


Wrapped Around Your Finger

by anothersadboy



Series: Monster Among Men [2]
Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Anxiety, Drug Dealing, Drug Use, Kidnapping, M/M, Major Character Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-06-06
Packaged: 2019-10-28 10:03:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 60,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17785343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothersadboy/pseuds/anothersadboy
Summary: After killing Auguste and almost killing Laurent, Damen is kept in jail awaiting his trial only to escape and make his way to Laurent's apartment. If Damen can't get what he wants killing Laurent then no one gets to have him.





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey, sweetheart."

Two words to make Laurent feel like the floor might crumble out from underneath him. Just two words to destroy the work he’d put in to not fear every sound he heard around the house. The sound of the bedroom door rattles behind him as Damen leans himself back against the door. The change of clothes that were in Laurent’s hand now lays on the floor by his feet where he dropped them in a shock.

"Damen."

"It's good to see you, Laurent." Damen doesn't even have to do anything because upon hearing the sound of Damen's voice, Laurent's body seized up. His mind tells him to do something, scream for help, call the police, but all Laurent can do is stand frozen in the middle of his room. Damen just stands leaning back against the bedroom door watching as Laurent stands in the middle of the room completely frozen and petrified.

"You got out." Laurent breathes out.

"Of course I got out, I have shit to do." Damen takes a step forward and Laurent's body begins to visibly tremble. There's no fighting back now, the cuts over his body may be closed up now but his leg muscle has yet to regain much strength and he's lost so much weight Damen could easily lift him up with no problem. Laurent feels a strong hand suddenly run down his shoulder over his arm. "You know how many weeks it's been since I've seen you? Too fucking many."

"What are you doing here? Are you here to finish what you started?"

"No, but I am bringing you with me." Damen steps closer so his chest sits against Laurent's back and wraps his arm around Laurent's waist. His hand travels down into Laurent's pocket, taking out his phone and tossing it on the bed. "Or what's left of you at least. Jord hasn't done a very good job taking care of you has he?"

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Laurent says in a burst of confidence.

"Oh, aren't you?" Laurent suddenly feels the gun being pressed into his side. "Either you come with me willingly, or, I start killing people and make you watch."

"You wouldn't, they'll catch you if you start doing that."

"Oh, will they? Then how did I get out? If the police were competent enough to catch me twice I wouldn't have escaped in the first place." Damen grabs Laurent under the arm and drags him along out of the bedroom and down the hall to Auguste's room. In shock, Laurent drops his cane on the way leaving him limping after Damen.

"What are you doing?"

"I need something better to wear." Laurent is finally given the opportunity to see Damen and sees how ill-fitting the outfit he must have stolen fits him. The sleeves on the shirt he wears are tight and stop high up on his wrists, the pants are loose in places they shouldn't be and tight in the opposite, those too are too small and show off his ankles. It's a miracle Damen got out of the courthouse looking like that without anyone questioning him. It's not until Damen starts digging through Auguste's closet that Laurent's anger actually shows itself.

"You don't get to touch his stuff." Laurent lunges at the gun, only to be slapped hard across the jaw with the barrel and sent tumbling to the floor.

"Don't try that shit on me, you're too weak to raise a hand against me right now. I'm sober and I've spent the last four weeks with nothing better to do than work out. While you, seem to have decided to go on some sort of hunger strike," Damen says calmly. On the floor, Laurent wipes the blood from his lip away with the back of his hand and keeps his eyes directed at the floor to avoid watching Damen touching Auguste's things. The idea of Damen wearing Auguste’s clothes after murdering him the way he did is vile to Laurent. After a few minutes, Damen walks back over in a new outfit and lifts Laurent up off of the floor under his arm. "Time to go, we have places to be."

Damen drags Laurent through the apartment grabbing a few things on his way through, a shirt from Auguste's room that he rips into a few pieces, one of Auguste's hats and sunglasses, a change of clothes for Laurent, a blanket, and the keys to Auguste's car. Using the blanket to keep the gun hidden, they cautiously make their way downstairs to Auguste's car. Laurent is tossed in the backseat where the pieces of Auguste's shirt are used as both a blindfold and to tie his wrists behind his back. He is not given the comfort of laying on the backseat but instead is thrown on the floor and covered with the blanket.

"Not letting me see where we are going then? Nervous are we?"

"Sorry sweetheart, that was the last you'll see for a while. Can't have you know how to run away can I?" Damen hops in the front seat and takes off fast, not being considerate in the fact Laurent has no way to brace himself. Damen avoids all of the main highways and driving through towns so he doesn't have to worry about anyone seeing him. He is only driving an about an hour out but by the time he takes all of the side street and wastes time driving all the way around towns, it takes just over three hours to get there. "Sit still until I come back, you won't get very far if you try to run."

"You are the one with the gun," Laurent mumbles into the floor. Parked a bit in front of them is Nik in a pickup truck. Both Nik and Damen get out of their cars and meet at the back end of the truck.

"Did you bring what I asked?" Damen asks.

"Are you sure you want to do this? We can still get rid of him you know? Kill him now and dump him on the side of the road somewhere. For fuck's sake don't kill him and just leave him here. I don't care but I don't think this is a good idea." Nik isn’t sure he wants to be involved in this. Damen killed all those people and Nik had no idea about it, but they are still friends and he promised to be there for him.

"Did you bring what I asked for?" Damen asks again, ignoring everything Nik said. Nik sighs and digs a small bag out of the truck for him. Quickly Damen hurries back over to the car and pull the blindfold off of Laurent's face, leaving him laying on the floor so all he can see is Damen's face hovering over him.

"That was a short drive. Do you think you're far enough away to hide from the police long?"

"Not quite, your highness, but I'm sure you're ready for a change." Laurent is lifted up to sit on the backseat but the blanket is thrown over both of their heads like a tent so Laurent can’t see anything. “You’re covered in sweat, drink some water first.”

“It’s really hot being covered by a fucking blanket for this long.” Damen brings the bottle of water up to his lips and Laurent drinks almost the whole bottle before pulling back. What Laurent doesn’t know is what Damen put into the water. If he’s going to travel any further with Laurent, he can’t do it with him conscious and slipping something into his water was the only option he really had. 

“Better?”

“It’s still hot.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I’m going to move you in a few minutes, it should be a little better there.” Damen moves Laurent down to lay on the floor again and gets out of the car. 

“Did you give it to him?”

“Yes, just give it a few minutes now.” A few minutes later Damen heads back to the car, pulling the blanket off of Laurent’s head and hovering over top of him.

“You son of a bitch.”

"No hard feelings sweetheart, like I said before, I can't have you see where we are going."

"Please not again," Laurent mumbles and squirms around as Damen picks him up. His blindfold is pulled down over his eyes but its pretty pointless now because his head falls limp on Damen’s shoulder. He fights hard to keep himself awake but it doesn’t take long for the drug to take hold and pull him into unconsciousness. Damen cautiously lifts Laurent up and drapes the unconscious boy over his shoulder with the blanket still clinging to his body and dangling at Damen's waist. With his other hand, he carefully grabs the change of clothes.

"You're an idiot you know that? He's the reason you're in this mess in the first place." Nik scolds as Damen walks past him to the truck. Watching Damen go through the motions of drugging Laurent made Nik hate this even more. He doesn't want to hurt this boy, he just wanted to help Damen this was not part of the deal at all. Nik may be a shitty person but he's not into hurting innocent people like this. Laurent got himself into this mess to begin with but Nik doesn’t want to be the one to help Damen drag him back into it.

"If you didn't want to get involved all you would have had to do is say no when I asked for help," Damen says cautiously sitting Laurent down on the back seat of the truck. Nik has nothing to say in retaliation so he just stands with his arms angrily crossed over his chest. "Turn around, I need to change him."

"Excuse me?"

"You're the one who told me he has to fit in a small space. So do you want to smuggle him across the border in that stiff fucking suit jacket? Because if not, turn around, now." Nik sighs and walks away to the back of the truck with his back facing Damen. In hindsight, it probably would have been easier to try and make Laurent change back at the apartment, but Laurent most likely would have never listened. Undressing him is the easier part, the hard part is trying to move Laurent's arms around to get them in the sleeves without letting him fall back over. Once Damen gets him changed into a thin t-shirt and a pair of shorts he leaves him lay on the seat so he can bring Laurent's old clothes to Auguste's car. Damen leaves the keys in the car and does his best to clean off the interior of any of his fingerprints, not necessary but a part of his instinctual habit at this point. By the time he gets back to the truck, Nik has put Laurent under the back seat of the truck behind some boxes. They both hop in the car and head out, driving the same way Damen had driven avoiding anywhere the police might be out looking for Damen. Nik refuses to speak to Damen for a long time, just staring straight ahead and avoiding saying anything which is very out of character for him. "You're mad at me."

"No shit."

"Why?"

"You tried to kill him, Damen. You killed all of those people and what did they ever do to you? I get why you killed Orlant, he fucked you over, but Laurent didn't do a thing to you." Damen stays quiet for a long time, staring down at his hands in shame. That was the first time Nik has ever said Laurent's name and it was to scold Damen for what he's done. "Hell, I thought you were in love with him."

"I am in love with him." Damen spits out as soon as Nik finishes his sentence.

"No you're not, you wouldn't do something like that to someone you love. If you loved him you would have done everything to protect him, not try to kill him so he can't leave you. You don't know what love is."

"How would you fucking know?" Nik's cheeks flush and his jaw clenches tight. “You’ve never been in love.”

"You'd be surprised." Nik mumbles.

"Whatever, I really don't care what you think anyway." Damen spits. His insensitive comments towards Nik are very misdirected considering the risks Nik puts himself in for Damen.

"Yeah, nothing new there," Nik mumbles to himself.

A few times throughout the day they have to stop so Damen can drug Laurent and make sure he has no chance of waking up. His body was hot and sweaty hiding under the backseat of the truck. For an hour Damen sits on the floor in the back so he can fan Laurent so he doesn't get too overheated.

The two drive all day, getting only about half as far as Nik could get on any normal day just because they could not take the highways. They stop at a house Nik had asked permission from a friend to borrow for the night.

When Damen carries Laurent inside he's still completely unconscious. But Damen is going to sleep at some point so just in case he somehow wakes during the night Damen slips on what could only be described as a leather collar around Laurent's neck. To that collar, he attaches a chain that he keeps locked to the house's radiator. This time when Nik feels uncomfortable with Damen's decision he just keeps his mouth shut about it since he knows he'll have no effect on him. Putting a collar on Laurent makes Nik’s stomach turn in disgust.

"When was the last time he ate something?" Nik asks.

"I don't know, I'm going to try and make him eat when he wakes up." They both sit around in silence for a few hours. Nik ate a small meal from some of the supplies in the truck but Damen stayed sitting on the floor with Laurent's head in his lap.

"Eat something Damen, anything." Damen just shakes his head and stays put, running a hand over Laurent's hair. As soon as Laurent showed the first sign of movement Damen went to work cooking him dinner. Laurent won't be fully conscious when Damen feeds him so Damen cooks a bowl of soup just to be safe. By the time he comes back Laurent's eyes flutter open and closed in confusion as to where he is. Carefully he helps Laurent sit up and lean back against the wall. Still half awake he feels at the collar around his neck in confusion, pulling at it like it itches but not aware of what it is.

"Sweetheart, I made you some dinner. How about you eat something." Damen brings a spoonful of soup to Laurent's mouth but he turns his head away and whimpers. He's still delirious from the drugs and leans forward to lay on Damen's shoulder. "You can go back to sleep in a minute, just eat a little for me, please."

"Damen, I've been driving all day. I know you want him to eat but please, I need to sleep." Nik says sitting up from his makeshift bed.

"You've slept through worse," Damen says. He pulls Laurent off of his shoulder and leans him back against the wall again. This time when Damen comes in with a spoonful Laurent takes it. He takes in a few mouthfuls before he starts fighting Damen off again, so he switches to a bottle of water laced with enough drugs to keep him unconscious until morning. After laying under the back seat of the truck all day Laurent has to be dehydrated. As soon as the water touches his lips he drinks down half the bottle before he pulls back coughing. "There you go sweetheart, that will make you feel better. Let’s get a little more food in you though."

"Stop," Laurent mumbles out as he leans forward to lay on Damen's chest again. They sit like this for a few minutes with Laurent barely conscious and no idea what he's doing but Damen enjoying the feeling of being touched regardless.

"Alright sweetheart that's fine, time to go to sleep," Nik watches in disgust as Damen lays Laurent down in the blanket and uses his sweater as a pillow for him. 

“Help," Laurent lets out in a soft whimper as he realizes what Damen did to him. A brief second of lucidity gives him enough time to realize what he just drank and the feeling draining from his fingertips. His fingers desperately grab at Damen's shirt as if it were his last lifeline with no other place to look for help.

“It’s alright, just go to sleep.” Damen hushes him and runs his fingers through Laurent’s hair to keep him relaxed. After a minute of whimpering and fighting Laurent lets go of that feeling of clarity and close his eyes to go to sleep. Within a few minutes, he will be unconscious anyway. 

"You've put him through so much," Nik says. "He's never going to be like he was before."

"I thought you wanted to sleep." Damen lays down next to Laurent and puts all his focus on the soon to be unconscious boy next to him. All day he was worried about Laurent overheating in the car, but now in this old house with barely any heating he fears Laurent might freeze. His body trembles from the lack of fat on his body to help keep him warm. Damen knows that Laurent would never want to be touched if he was awake but with the temperature in the house dropping fast and not many other options left Damen crawls under the blanket with him. Almost immediately Damen can see a difference as Laurent's shivering slowly fades until it completely stops. Knowing how Laurent would feel about this he keeps his body just barely close enough to give off heat for Laurent without being too over the top clingy. The three sleep through the night and Damen is ready to go by sunrise even as Nik drags his feet from exhaustion.

Traveling all the way to Ios with one man who can't be seen and his unconscious hostage takes a lot longer than it should. Every few days they have to stop and hide out for a few days so they won't be seen. When they get to the border they have to wait four days for Nik's friend to be on guard so they can get by without questions. Smuggling two people across the border was surprisingly similar to smuggling drugs, Nik's friend doesn't ask questions and gets him through before anyone else has the chance to look through the truck and find the two boys hiding in the back.

Past the border, it takes another week to make it all the way to Ios. Once they came close to being seen and they had to hide out for three days. Two of which Laurent completely refused food in his half-drugged state. Damen never let him out of sedation enough to understand where he was or what was going on around him but just enough so he could eat with the help of Damen. After so long under sedation and his complete refusal of food, Laurent had lost enough weight for his ribs to poke out of his sides and his collarbones to be completely visible as if you could wrap your hand around it. Nik was horrified at what Damen had done to this boy who had such a healthy physique back in Vere and now looked like a starving child. Once when blankets and clothing slipped out of place Nik saw that Laurent's hip bones now stick out from his sides.

"We need to make one more stop on the way," Nik says. The road they had been on was not well traveled so they didn’t have to worry about seeing people. But now Nik turns off the road into a town and Damen’s instinct is to panic. On the outskirts of Ios are many smaller towns with not a lot of traffic flowing through them. The area Nik decided to drive them into is not very populated but Damen still flinches at every car that drives past them. 

"Where?"

"The store, you need to make him eat when he wakes up. He looks disgusting I'm buying him some food." Nik parks in the back of the parking lot at a grocery store in town and quickly runs inside to grab some food for Laurent. Damen sits with Auguste's hat pulled down and sunglasses on, slouched in his seat so no one notices him. The area they are in is not very busy so no one comes close enough to the truck to see Damen. But Damen is a naturally anxious person so when Nik takes more than a few minutes to come back out he starts to panic.

"What took you so long?" Damen snaps when Nik finally gets back in the car.

"Did you not see all of the shit I bought your boyfriend? I was only inside for ten minutes give me a break asshole." Nik takes off quickly but Damen still sits with his head down in fear of someone seeing his face. Even as they get closer to the house and further out into the wilderness with no one around Damen still sits with the hat pulled down. "Damen, no one is going to see you anymore. No one lives around here you know that."

"I'm just trying to be safe." Another hour of driving and they pull up outside a small cabin in the middle of an Akielon forest only a short hike away from the sea. Nik takes priority in opening up the house and bringing in some of the food that needs to be refrigerated. Damen however immediately goes to pull Laurent out from the back seat. He slowly walks him inside and down the hall to the bedroom.

"Fucking finally," Damen says, carefully laying Laurent down on the bed. Damen takes the end of the chain attached to the collar around Laurent's neck and locks it to a hook in the wall next to the bed.

"You really think that's necessary?"

"In case I'm not here when he wakes up." Nik just stares at Damen but doesn't disagree, he has a good point. There’s still a lot to get done around here before it can really be considered liveable. The only furniture they have here is the mattress that Laurent is laying on and a refrigerator. "What?"

"I hate that I'm saying this, but how about we keep him asleep for a few more days until we get everything situated."


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing Laurent feels as he begins to wake up is warmth. Soft, comfort, and warmth completely surrounding him. The next being the tight feeling surrounding his throat, and finally the gnawing ache in his stomach. Laurent's eyes blink open and struggle to adjust to the light in the room, even if it is extremely dim. He lays on a mattress in the back corner of a room, covered by a soft white comforter. In the other back corner is a small table with two wooden chairs next to it. On the front wall is a door seeming to lead to a bathroom and the other leading to the mystery of outside. Between those two doors is a small dark colored dresser. The only light in the room right now comes from a lamp on the bedside table as there doesn't seem to be any windows in the room.

Laurent's throat is dry and aches from however long he has been without water so once his mind finally wakes up a little better he sits up to go get a drink from the sink in the bathroom, only to be pulled backward by something around his neck. He quickly spins around to see a small chain connected to the wall and leading to something around his neck. He reaches up and feels what seems like a leather collar around his neck.

"What the fuck?" Laurent mumbles. The chain is too short for Laurent to move further than the edge of the bed. He pushes the comforter off of his waist only to discover Laurent's own blanket from home underneath. The longer he sits here awake the more his mind begins to wake up and processes everything he sees. The chain connected to the wall is not very heavy but plenty thick enough that Laurent would never be able to break it. Connecting it to the wall is a small lock that would be better spent time trying to pick the lock open, if only he had something to use for that. At his neck, the collar is held closed by a similar lock to the one that is on the wall. Laurent's fingers feel around at the smooth leather band looking for any faults that could be used as a way of escape but its thick and completely solid.

Suddenly the door opens up, interrupting Laurent's investigation, and in walks Damen. Clean, dressed in his normal clothes, and very calm. As soon as Laurent sees Damen he scrambles back into the wall behind him. Damen flips on a switch as he walks in the room and the room brightens up making Laurent flinch and cover his eyes.

"You're awake," Damen closes the door behind him and stops. "Calm down, I'm not planning on hurting you."

"You better have your fun now asshole, I'm supposed to meet Jord at his apartment so when I don't make it there he's going to come looking for you."

"Sweetheart, I sure hope he's looking for us. You've been missing for three weeks now." The blood drains from Laurent's face as the realization hits him. Three weeks, Laurent has missed three weeks of his life probably in some drugged haze to make traveling easier for Damen. Who knows how far they could have traveled in three weeks. "You've been in this room for an entire week now, just not consciously."

"So what? I'm your fucking hostage now? Some little pet for you to play with whenever you want?" Damen chuckles to himself as he crosses the room to come join Laurent sitting on the bed. Laurent scrambles around to get the furthest away from Damen as he can, bringing his arms up to shield himself. His own blanket is wrapped around his waist restricting his movements. "No, you stay the fuck away from me!"

"Think of yourself as whatever you like, just know that you're mine," Damen says, making no moves toward Laurent. "And you better get used to being near me, you're sleeping in my bed right now. If you ever want that thing off of your neck you're going to have to let me near."

"You tried to kill me, and now you expect me to believe you want anything different?"

"I didn't want to kill you, but you left me no other choice. You'll learn to accept that one day. Soon enough the withdrawal is going to kick in and you'll have to have my help."

"What?"

"You've been sedated for three weeks, of course, your body has grown a dependence."

"You asshole." Damen just smiles back. “What did you give me?”

“Rohypnol and the withdrawal isn’t going to be fun, I am sorry about that.”

“No, you’re not.”

"For now, let me take that off of you so you can go take a shower and I can cook you something to eat. You must be starving, I tried to feed you when you were drugged but you wouldn't eat much, its a side effect I didn’t know how to help." Laurent stays pressed into the wall as Damen extends one hand out toward the collar. "You either come to me willingly and I won't make you wear that all the time or you fight me and I never let you off of it."

"I'm not a fucking dog." Laurent spits. Angrily, Laurent sides closer to Damen and lets him unlock the collar around his neck. It slides off onto the bed leaving his neck feeling tender and sore. Laurent has no idea how long it has been on his neck and he’s not sure he really wants to ever find out.

"Go shower," Damen says with a small touch to Laurent's shoulder to shock him into standing quickly. However, both of them have completely forgotten about the injury made to Laurent's leg. When Damen kidnapped Laurent, he was supposed to be starting physical therapy soon. Then, his leg was weak and he used a cane to get around most of the time. Now, after weeks of being completely immobile, it has lost all of its strength and Laurent falls on his hands and knees. "Fuck, are you okay?"

"Don't fucking touch me." Laurent slowly makes his way back to his feet and uses the wall for support as he limps to the bathroom. Even his good leg struggles to hold his weight up after not being used for so long. Damen trails behind him all the way to the door just in case, until Laurent turns and slams the bathroom door shut in his face.

The bathroom is larger than Laurent had assumed it would be, with both a glass door shower and a bathtub. Laurent takes a moment at the mirror to assess himself. Around his neck is a thick pink line from where the collar sat against his skin for however long Damen kept it on him. His hair is a complete mess but not as bad as he assumed it would be after three weeks, Damen must have brushed it at some point. The clothes he wears, that are not his own, hang off of him and make it more obvious how his ribs now poke out of his chest. His hip bones are now completely visible and you can count out every single one of Laurent's ribs. Underneath his clothes, Laurent gives himself a moment to look at the scars. They are now faded a lot more than they had been the last time he saw them, almost more than he would have expected them to be. Still, pink in color but no longer red and tender like they were last time Laurent remembers. The number carved into his shoulder blade, however, is much darker than the rest, excluding the one on his thigh that looks just as bad. It seems highly likely that Damen has been attempted to treat the scars with something to help them fade.

The shower that Laurent takes feels so good on his freezing body that he ends up sitting on the floor under the water for a long time. It feels so good to just let the water run over his head he refuses to move until the fear of Damen walking in and yelling makes him hurry. Outside of the shower, he finds the clothes Damen already had in here waiting for Laurent to change into. A shirt that looks like it's probably Damen's and a pair of sweatpants that are closer to Laurent's size but still hang low on his hips are the only thing Damen left as an option. He feels ridiculous, looking as weak as he does. When he walks out of the bathroom Damen hurries over to offer a hand but Laurent refuses and walks himself all the way over to the table on his own.

"So, you've lost so much weight since we were together it's time to get some food in you. I’ve been trying to get you to drink and eat a little more these past few days to work you up to this but we still have to start slow." Laurent sits down in front of a plate of eggs and orange slices. It’s not a big plate, just a few eggs and a single peeled orange that leaves Laurent shocked and slightly disappointed.

" _This_ is supposed to put weight back on me?”

“You’ve barely eaten anything in weeks, I’m afraid to give you too much too fast. The only thing you’d take from me was water and sometimes broth and even that made you sick. I could make you very sick if I’m not careful about what I give you. You need to gain that weight back, but you need to do it without killing yourself. I can see your ribs sticking out of your chest. I'm not joking around with this. Eat your food." Damen sits back in the other chair and watches Laurent attempt to eat as much food as he possibly can. After Damen tried to kill Laurent, he lost a lot of weight when the depression hit and he stopped eating very much. Then, Damen kidnapped him and kept him drugged for three weeks with very little food from the sound of it. At this point, with two months of barely eating, Laurent's stomach rejects the food after only a small portion. He slows his eating for a moment to breathe and drink his entire glass of juice down but Laurent seems unhappy with himself. "You're not hungry anymore are you?"

"I haven't been eating much in two months, I can fucking finish this."

“It doesn’t work like that I told you, broth has made you nauseous. If you can’t finish this it’s okay. We can try again later.” After a moment of focusing hard on not letting the food come back up, Laurent shakes his head and continues on eating very slowly. He’s determined to get the rest of this food down to show Damen he’s not as sick as he seems to think he is. Laurent’s weight isn’t okay, the smallest thing makes him tired and with no fat, it’s impossible to keep himself warm. He hates how his body feels right now and he'd do anything to get back to how he used to be. “You’re going to throw up if you’re not careful.”

"No, I won’t."

“I guess I’m happy you’re eating.”

"I'm not doing this for you."

"That's fine, you're still doing it. Even if not for me I'll take it if it means you're eating." It takes Laurent a long time to finish enough food to make himself happy. Even after that, it takes a lot of force and willpower to keep the food down as it threatens to come back up.

"So where even are we?"

"You don't get to know that right now," Damen says.

"Seriously?" Damen leans forward on the table and Laurent flinches back in fear.

"You're going to try and run the first chance I give you, so maybe one day I'll let you know but for now I can't."

"Can I at least see the rest of the house? There doesn't seem to be much to do around here."

"No."

"Excuse me?" Laurent spits. "So you're telling me I'm not only trapped here with you, but I'm not allowed to leave your bedroom like a fucking pet?"

"For now at least, yes." Damen's expression does not change to show Laurent how he feels about the situation. Laurent is completely horrified that he is going to be trapped in this tiny bedroom for who knows how long. There's no books, TV, computer, or people he can tolerate to talk to. 

"You're sick," Laurent spits. Damen, having enough of the verbal abuse, picks up Laurent's plate and walks out of the bedroom without another word. It takes a while to get up but Laurent drags himself over to the bedroom door only to find that Damen locked it behind him. "Fuck!"

Laurent slams his fist against the door hard enough to make his hands ache. The frustration of being locked in this tiny room is overwhelming. He has lost three weeks of his life being drugged and transported to who knows where. Now his life revolves around living in his own mind with nothing to do and whenever his attempted murderer decides to come in the room to see him. Without Damen, this room is as good as solitary confinement. 

Even after being asleep for three weeks, just the few things he has already done today leave Laurent completely drained of energy. There's nothing better to do in this room so Laurent decides to just take a nap. He wakes up a few hours later when he hears the bedroom door shut. Laurent jumps up but quickly calms himself down to not seem as frightened of Damen.

"I brought you some lunch if you're hungry. Sit up, I need to put this on your scars. It's helped them heal up quite a bit and-" Damen reaches out and touches Laurent's shoulder, frightening him enough to fall out of bed.

"Get your hands off of me!" Laurent screams and stumbles away from Damen. "You don't get to put anything on me."

"Fine, here you put it on." Damen tosses it at Laurent and he just barely catches it. In anger, Laurent raises the tube above his head and throws it as hard as he can back at Damen. It sails by Damen just barely missing hitting him in the head.

"What the fuck!" Damen screams. "I was just trying to be helpful you don't need to throw things at me."

"Fuck you." Laurent spits. Not knowing where to direct his anger appropriately without causing more problems for himself.

“You know what? Fuck this, I can’t do this shit right now.” Damen storms out of the bedroom locking the door behind him. Laurent slams his fist against the door but Damen refuses to open it again. To avoid listening to Laurent hit the door Damen turns on music just barely loud enough to drown him out. He continues hitting, pulling, clawing, and anything else he can think of to get himself out of the room. 

“You son of a bitch.” Suddenly, Laurent hears something that could be helpful in his escape. Outside the door is laughter and men talking loudly.

“I mean it’s better than prison right?” A voice says from out in the house. Another person is here with Damen, someone who might be able to help get Laurent out of here. 

“Damen! Let me out!” Laurent uses all the force he has to slam his body against the door. His bones ache and he almost collapses to the floor from all of this fighting but he doesn’t stop.

“What was that?” Someone says. Yes, this could be his escape. But, instead of a response, Damen just turns the music up louder so no one can hear Laurent yelling anymore. A few minutes later the bedroom door opens up and in walks Damen.

“What are you doing?”

“Someone heard me yelling, how are you going to explain that?”

“They all know you’re here already.” Damen frowns and takes a step further in the room. “Do you think I would make such a stupid mistake?”

“Let me out!” Damen grabs Laurent by the wrist and backs him towards the bed. 

“Look at your hands, you hurt yourself.” Damen tosses him down on the bed and walks over the dresser. Laurent stands up and moves to defend himself against Damen when he suddenly sees the collar and chain get pulled out. 

“No, you are not putting that shit on me.” 

“You are hurting yourself what else am I supposed to do?” With Laurent’s bad leg, it only takes a minute of Damen chasing after him before he drags Laurent back to the bed.

“Let go of me I am not a fucking dog.” Laurent thrashes around but Damen pins Laurent down with his knee and manages to get the collar locked around his neck. 

“Please stop hurting yourself and just sit here quietly.” Damen locks the end of the chain to the hook on the wall. 

“Don’t leave me like this you asshat!” Damen doesn’t listen and just straighten himself back out and walks out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him. 

Laurent lays for hours in bed listening to the music blasting over any sounds he tries to make. Damen blasts music loud enough to make Laurent’s head ache so he has to cover his head with a pillow to try his best to keep out the noise. Without any way to know what time it is, Laurent doesn’t know how late it is when Damen finally turns the music off and comes back in the bedroom. Even after the music turns off it takes a long time before there is movement on the bed next to him. Damen pulls the pillow off of Laurent’s head and takes the collar, taking it back over to the dresser. From exhaustion, Laurent just lays there completely limp, not caring what Damen does anymore.

“I don’t care how much I hate it, if you’re going to hurt yourself like that again I’m going to do what I have to.” Damen softly lays down next to Laurent and tries his best not to bother him.

“If my brother could see me now it would kill him.” Damen sighs and reaches a hand out to Laurent’s shoulder, but Laurent pulls himself as close to the wall as he possibly can to avoid being anywhere near Damen. It wouldn’t matter how big of a bed Damen had, Laurent would still want to be as far away on the bed as he can from him. Whatever story he was going to tell about his brother is instantly stopped the moment Damen’s hand touched him.

"Laurent come on, I get you don’t want me to touch you, I promise I won’t anymore." Damen sighs. "I want you to be comfortable, laying like that is not going to feel good."

"I don't want to sleep next to a fucking murderer." Laurent turns around, giving Damen hope for a second that he might calm down, but Laurent just pulls down his pillow that had been covering his head earlier and puts it between them so Damen can't get any closer. Even with the pillow between them Laurent presses himself back into the wall and pulls his blanket up to use as a pillow and cover his head from Damen's view.

"Seriously?" Damen asks, receiving no response in return. "Fine, I guess. Do what you want, I don't care what you do anymore."


	3. Chapter 3

It surprises Laurent that it takes a few days before the withdrawal kicks in. In his mind he had planned for a few hours after Damen had told him but when it never came he was pretty confused to say the least. It was, of course, the nausea that hit Laurent the hardest. He was already struggling to get enough calories in his body and now everything just came back up as soon as he would try to eat it. All of this terrified Damen because he didn’t think it would be this much of an issue for Laurent. Damen didn’t really have a plan when he kidnapped Laurent, he knew he wanted to take him and keep him safely hidden away but that was all. This, however, wasn’t following that one thing he had intended on doing. 

“Do you want to try and eat some soup?” Damen asks, walking in on Laurent just sitting on the bathroom floor too afraid to move. Laurent’s arms weakly hold him upright as his body wants to collapse onto the tiles below him. 

“I want you to fuck off, you did this shit to start with anyway.” Damen sighs and sits down in the bathroom doorway.

“You know, this withdrawal will make you irritable but you’re already always mad at me I can’t tell which part of you is yelling.” 

“Just shut up, your voice makes my head hurt,” Damen chuckles and leans back into the doorframe. “I hate you for this, why did you have to do this to me?”

“I didn’t have much of a choice. That was the only thing I could get in such a short amount of time.” Laurent doesn’t want to be anywhere near Damen and anytime he moves, his own body flinches in fear. It’s an anxiety built up in his chest that makes him want to keep as much distance as possible between the two. He has no idea where this feeling is coming from because not that long ago he wasn’t this terrified. Laurent’s head snaps up to respond too fast and he suddenly lunges to the toilet and is left dry heaving from the dizziness. Damen wants to go over and hold him and make sure Laurent knows everything will be okay but he knows that he can’t so he stays right where he is in the doorway. When Laurent’s nausea eventually calms down he collapses back against the wall and closes his eyes to try and settle his stomach. “This isn’t going to last for more than two weeks. I know it’s rough but it won’t last forever, I’m not going to get upset with you for yelling at me or anything so go ahead and do what you need to do to get through this.”

“Oh, wow. You’re so brave for allowing me to yell at you, thank you for your sacrifice.” Damen chuckles and stands up, walking over to Laurent. Laurent has no idea what Damen plans on doing to he scoots back a few inches as he gets closer.

“Come on, let’s get you back in bed if you’re just laying in here.” Damen extends a hand for Laurent to take and has to grab him and drag him to his feet when Laurent doesn’t try to stand up. Getting Laurent back to bed in a state like this was more about Damen not moving too fast to make Laurent’s nausea come back than anything else. His instinct told him to get Laurent into bed as quickly as possible but they had already been through this and it was much easier to take it slow.

“It’s probably much safer for me to just stay in the bathroom.” Laurent mumbles.

“You’ll be more comfortable in bed,” Laurent’s bad leg stumbles and Damen has to lift him up better so he does have to put weight on that leg. “Does your leg still hurt?”

“Put me down.” Laurent pushes himself out of Damen’s grip and crawls to the back corner of the bed away from him. “Leave.”

Days bleed into one another for Laurent until everything just feels like the same to him. There are no windows or clocks to tell the time. With the severity of his nausea his meals are no longer regular so he can’t even use that as a method of time. Every meal is the same and it always tastes horrible. Apparently a side effect of this withdrawal was difficulty sleeping because Laurent rarely slept, and when he did it was often filled with vivid nightmares. He’d dream of his brother’s gruesome death and wake up to his murderer hovering close by making it hard to tell when he was actually awake. Even though Laurent was so aggressive and mean to him, Damen felt bad for what was happening and constantly stayed awake to try and help. His friends rarely showed up at the house and when they did it was only for a few minutes at a time so Damen was always in the bedroom to bother Laurent and make telling the time even harder. 

It hurt to see but Laurent ended up losing another few pounds. At this point, his body weight was so unhealthy even Damen, who would normally love to touch or look at Laurent if allowed the chance, barely wanted to. All of this was Damen’s fault and he knew that but until Laurent was healthy enough to keep food down there was nothing he could do about it. So glances to Laurent or helping touches were quick and ended as quickly as Damen could get them to. He tried to overcompensate with conversation but Laurent was, of course, never in the mood to talk to Damen. Laurent actually appreciated the fact Damen didn’t want to touch his body anymore, even though Laurent himself didn’t even want to look at it either. 

After almost a week of this, Laurent would oftentimes spend hours staring at the ceiling doing absolutely nothing and refusing to speak or move. Sometimes Damen could convince him to get out of bed to try and eat something but most of the time he would just lay there.

“What are you thinking about?” Damen asks.

“I don’t want to talk about it.” Laurent surprises Damen by saying. 

“Laurent,” Laurent rolls his eyes and glances over at Damen. “There’s no one else to talk to. Tell me what’s bothering you.”

“What’s the point of this anymore?”

“The point of what?”

“Living,” Laurent can see the horror flash in Damen’s eyes but he’s too shocked to move or say anything. “Look at me, there’s nothing left of me. All of the parts of myself that made me, me are basically fucking gone. What’s the point in fighting every day in a body that doesn’t want to go on.”

“This is just the withdrawal talking.”

“This is why I didn’t want to talk about this.” Laurent tries to turn away but Damen grabs his shoulder and stops him. 

“I’m sorry, I’m just scared because that sounds like you want to do something stupid. Do I need to be worried?” Laurent stays silent and tries to turn away again. “If you’re going to do something to yourself I’ll tie you to the bed.”

“I’m not suicidal, I couldn’t do anything if I wanted to there’s nothing here.” Laurent fights Damen until he pulls his arm out of his grip and sits up in bed. 

“You’d only know that if you’ve thought about it.” Damen is so scared that Laurent might try something now even though he said he wouldn’t, he’s debating getting the collar out anyway. “The Laurent I know would never think about doing that.”

“You killed that Laurent a long fucking time ago and you know that.”

“You’re making me nervous now, you know that?”

“Seriously, this is why I don’t want to talk to you about this. Just leave.” Laurent spits. He leans back against the wall and stares up at the ceiling again, trying to ignore Damen but he refuses to leave. Damen reaches out and puts a hand on Laurent’s knee which is quickly pushes away. Damen’s help isn’t wanted, and he doesn’t know how to deal with that. 

“I’m sorry, I’m nervous you can’t blame me for that. Talk to me, tell me what you mean.”

“How long do you think this is sustainable, with me losing weight like this?” Laurent holds up an arm and pulls up the sleeve of his sweater for emphasis to show off how skinny and sickly they look now. Damen flinches at the sight of Laurent’s arm and looks away. “I don’t want to suffer in the end, this is worse than your god damn knife. At least the knife was faster, this is torture.” 

“Hey, it’s just a few more days. The nausea should go away soon and you can start eating again. I don’t want you to suffer either.”

“If you didn’t want me to suffer, you never would have done this.”  
*  
By the time the withdrawal finally subsided enough for nausea to go away, all the work they put it trying to make Laurent gain weight was gone. Some of the last few days Laurent was too weak to stand on his own, especially in the mornings with his blood sugar so low, and even though he tried fighting it he needed Damen’s help walking whenever he needed to bathe. He was dehydrated and had no food in his body so just sitting upright made him dizzy.

“Here, eat some breakfast, I have something to do. If you don’t finish that’s not a big deal, just eat some of it.” Damen sets a plate of food on the bedside table along with a glass of juice next to Laurent’s bottle of water. Laurent’s eye’s flutter open to glance at the plate but close again and curl back into bed. “Laurent, sit up and eat something.”

“Go do your drug dealing,” Laurent mumbles into the pillow. 

“I’m not a drug dealer anymore.” Laurent waves Damen away but he sits up anyway and tries his best to start eating. It’s a lot more food than he had been eating in the last few days but Laurent wants to eat as much as he possibly can. It takes a long time of just staring at the plate, deep breaths, and small bites before Laurent does what he didn’t think he actually could do and finishes the whole plate.

With food in his body and the main symptoms of withdrawal beginning to go away, Laurent no longer wants to just lay in bed all day. With Damen gone for the day he has the room to himself and doesn’t have to try and avoid speaking to him. He limps his way to the bathroom and runs himself a hot bath. A few months back the smell of Akielon soaps were relaxing to Laurent. They reminded him of Damen and that made him happy, now they just irritate him. Akielos makes him think of the horrible things Damen did. Senses bring back memories even when Laurent fights to try and forget everything that happened. More than anything Laurent just wants something from back home. He misses home more than he thought he ever could. 

Back home, baths were something Laurent was never into. Showers are faster and more convenient so he never had a reason to take one. But now, in this house with nothing to do and with an aching body he was learning to enjoy them. It’s nice to have a safe place to just relax for a while without being bothered. Even if all he can think about is Damen making his mind race, at least his body gets the chance to relax. 

By the time he comes back out to the bedroom, Damen is still gone so Laurent sits down in front of the bedroom door to listen. Through the bedroom door, he can often hear Damen talking in Akielon to multiple different people. One of the men he hears most often sounds a lot like Nik but the others are a mystery to Laurent. However every person Laurent hears talk in this house has spoken in Akielon, making it seem highly likely they are in Akielos. Honestly, two weeks of traveling with a man raised in Akielos doesn't make the conclusion of their location very surprising at all.

What does seem surprising is the number of people that come in and out of the house. Laurent thought they would be completely isolated somewhere but it seems like Damen has plenty of friends coming through here. Sometimes the conversations sound very lighthearted with lots of loud laughter and jokes. But other times they are very serious with calm quiet conversations with the occasional yelling from both sides.

Today, however, Damen seems to be arguing very loudly with one of the men. Through the door, some of the words get muffled but Laurent understands they are basically saying something about money. Whether it's someone owned something or something else entirely Laurent doesn't know.

“You motherfucker! Fifty thousand, we aren’t fucking negotiating here.” A man Laurent doesn’t recognize yells.

“Calm the fuck down before I shove your head through the fucking wall.” Damen’s voice is loud and aggressive. Hearing this tone in Damen’s voice before, always meant bad things for anyone involved. 

“Fifty thousand! I’ll turn your ass in and keep your boyfriend back there for myself, don’t fuck with me.” Laurent flinches back slightly in shock. If that happened, there would be no fighting it. With the state Laurent is in right now there is no way he could do anything to stop it, hopefully Damen wouldn’t let any of this get that far though. There’s suddenly a loud crash from the other room and footsteps stomping down the hall towards the bedroom. Laurent scrambles off to the side just in time for the door to fly open and Damen walk in, trying to keep his composure. His hands shake with anger but he squeezes them tight and lets them go to try and release enough tension to calm down. 

"Hey, how are you?" Damen says, in Veretian, to Laurent. The angry tone in his voice completely gone now that he talks to Laurent. He was never good at letting the anger go when he switched between conversations before so this is a complete shock to Laurent.

"I know your language, why do you switch when you talk to me?" Laurent says, forcing the conversation back to Akielon.

"Sorry?"

"I hear you out there every day talking to everyone in Akielon but as soon as you open that door you're right back to Veretian. Stop hiding behind the language, I know we are in Akielos I can speak with you in the language."

"I was trying to not throw too much at you at once." Damen sighs and switches to Akielon as Laurent asked.

"Well, you've already done that bringing me here. I've been trapped in this tiny room for almost four weeks now, one of which I wasn't even conscious for. So don't pretend to be worried about putting too many things on me." Damen walks over and sits down at the edge of the bed. Laurent, still not feeling comfortable being very close to Damen, stays exactly where he is on the floor.

"You're right, I'm sorry." Damen gives in. No matter what Laurent yells at him, Damen always tries to keep his voice calm and composed. "Do you need anything? Something to eat?"

"I need something to do, I'm so fucking bored."

"I’m happy you don’t just want to lay in bed now but I don't actually have anything for you to do right now I'm sorry," Damen says. "I can try to stay in here more often so you have someone to talk to if you want."

"I'd rather be bored than talk with you."

"Yeah, I know. I'm a piece of shit, you've informed me. A lot of people have informed me of that actually." Damen rests his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. "I just thought it would be better than nothing."

"Why were you yelling?" Laurent hesitantly asks. "It was about money?"

"Just a miscommunication, I just needed a minute to calm down in here." Laurent gets himself up off of the floor and cautiously sits down on the other side of the bed. Damen’s head jerks up as soon as he feels the movement on the bed next to him but he doesn’t move more than that so he doesn’t frighten Laurent away.

"You were yelling about money," Laurent says cautiously, pushing the point.

"Yes, don't worry about it. It's not going to affect you, just a little misunderstanding."

"If you're upset about something then yes, it probably will affect me. Is everything alright?"

"I just fucked up something. To get us here cost me a lot of money, I had to pay people to help out with things or to keep them from talking and I was short on paying someone because I don't have all of my money here with me."

"What did you break?"

“You heard that?”

“Of course I did, that was a loud crash. What was it?”

“A lamp aimed at his head.” Damen winces in embarrassment at his own actions. "I was getting too upset. I just needed to calm down for a minute before I can go get everything worked out. I’m trying to not get as mad as I used to."

“So fighting with me was your idea of a way to calm down?” Body language can tell you everything about how two people feel about each other. Damen sits completely relaxed at the edge of the bed, taking up as much room as he chooses to. When Laurent sat down on the bed next to him he sat up straighter and leaned himself on one arm, to unconsciously be closer to Laurent. Laurent however, takes up very minimal space. His legs fold underneath of himself and his hands stay in his lap. The furthest point on the bed he could get without being weird was right against the pillows, so his side leans into the pillows away from Damen. When Damen unconsciously leans closer to Laurent, Laurent unconsciously leans away.

“Yes actually.” 

"So, what are you going to do? Let me go and turn yourself in?"

“Talk him down once I don’t think I’ll strangle him. You help calm me down a lot.”

“I don’t know why I don’t like you.” Damen smiles and look back down at his hands.

“Yeah, I know. You don’t have to like me for you to calm me down, I love you and you make me happy.”

“No, you don’t.” Laurent laughs. Damen sighs and glances around the room to change the subject.

“Look at you, you finished all of that food?” Damen says as soon as he notices the empty plate on the bedside table. “That’s pretty damn impressive.”

“I’m ready to feel like myself again.”

“That’s really good to here.” Damen smiles. 

“Can you let me out of this room for a while?” Laurent knows the answer, but the only way to get out one day is to keep trying. 

“I can’t.” Of course, still trapped in this room.


	4. Chapter 4

For weeks Laurent spends his days trapped in the bedroom. It took a while of small meals and lots of rest for Laurent to start getting his energy back. Despite his background, Damen is actually a pretty good cook. Laurent had only really had his cooking a few times before and most were right after his brother had been murdered so everything tasted bland. Now that Damen is trying hard to fatten him up though, Laurent is learning the extent to his cooking talents. Even if Laurent refuses to admit it, Damen can tell by his facial expressions what he enjoys and what he doesn’t. As the days drag on, Damen caters the meals around what he learns Laurent does and doesn’t like. It’s pretty surprising to Laurent the food Damen is able to get to the house when he can’t even be seen in public. Laurent still doesn’t know where they are but he always imagined them out in the middle of nowhere but that really doesn’t seem possible at this point.

After a while of these delicious meals, Laurent started really gaining his strength back. As soon as he had the energy he started working out his leg as hard as he could. It probably wasn’t a smart idea while being as underweight as he was but it was the only thing to do in the bedroom. He started small, when his body was still grossly malnourished he only did a few small exercises to get the muscles moving again. But as he started putting on weight the exercises grew harder and harder. It hurt to do but if he ever plans on getting out of this place he has to gain the strength back. He worked his leg to complete exhaustion and he would have to lay out on the floor drenched in sweat for a long time before he could gain enough strength to either continue on or get himself into the shower. Once after a particularly hard workout when Laurent lay half passed out on the floor Damen walked in and panicked when he saw Laurent like this.

"What the fuck?" Damen drops to his knees next to Laurent who is too exhausted to move very far away. "What the hell did you do?"

"You cut through the muscle in my leg. I need physical therapy," Laurent slowly sits up and leans forward slightly, still trying to catch his breath. Damen rushes to get Laurent a bottle of water but when he tries to hand it over, Laurent just gets up and stomps away. "Something I would be doing if I hadn't been kidnapped."

"Drink some water, you're going to make yourself sick." Laurent stares right at Damen as he walks over to the bathroom sink to get a drink of water. "Really?"

“I don’t need your help.”

“You already need more calories than you’re eating, and now you’re burning them all off?”

“What else am I supposed to do? I can barely walk.”

“Your leg can wait.” Laurent's plan was to continue his work out as soon as he got enough energy back but now Damen has made him angry enough to just skip it and go take a shower. He goes to slam the door in Damen's face but Damen puts out a hand and stops it before it can close all the way. For once Damen lets his frustration show as he clenches his teeth to avoid yelling. He squeezes his fist tight and slams it into the door so hard Laurent wonders if he left a dent in the wall. Laurent unconsciously takes a few steps back when Damen steps into the bathroom.

"Let me take a shower," Laurent says softly.

“I showed you what happens when you hurt yourself, we already talked about this,” Damen says sternly. 

“I’m not trying to hurt myself.”

“You better not be.” Laurent stands silent until Damen lets go of the door and back out so he can close the door. Laurent is left shaken momentarily but he shakes it off and hurries to go shower. Laurent has never been one to do very hard workouts. He used to go on runs or do fairly simple workouts at the gym near his apartment but not to the point of complete exhaustion like he is now. He’s not used to feeling like his legs might give out under him at any second.

Heading back out into the bedroom, Laurent takes a second to peek out the door before he opens it. Thankfully, Damen left the room leaving it open for Laurent to get dressed and not have to talk to him at least for a little while. It is a little irritating though, because if Laurent had known Damen was just going to leave again then he could have continued his workout. But to his surprise a moment later the door opens back up and in walks Damen. He walks up to Laurent, slipping a shirt over his head, but Laurent just ignores him.

“I’m sorry I got mad at you,” Damen says.

“Don’t, don’t apologize. I’m not going to make you feel better for your anger issues.” Laurent snaps back. 

“It’s been six weeks since you brought up suicide, do we need to talk about it again?”

“We didn’t need to talk about it the first time.”

“I need to know you’re not going to hurt yourself.”

“I’m not suicidal. Stop asking me.”

“Thank you. I can help you work out from now on if you’d like.” Damen tries his best to keep his voice calm and soft even as Laurent continues to be so mean back to him. He doesn’t deserve any kindness and he knows that, but Laurent also knows how to push him to anger.

“I don’t need your help.”

“You don’t need my help but I could help you gain some strength in your leg a lot faster.” Laurent shakes his head and just walks past Damen to sit on the bed. “I was wrong. You’ve gained a lot of weight back recently. You’re still underweight and I want you to be careful but if you want to work out I’m fine with that and I want to help you.”

“What did you do to your arm?” Laurent says, leaning back on his forearms. There’s no way he’d ever let Damen help him with something like this so he’s going to talk about anything else.

“I got in a fight with a piece of glass,” Damen says, half gesturing to the new gash in his forearm. 

“How? When?” Laurent really doesn’t care what he did but its a change in subject and that's what he needs right now. 

“A few minutes ago. Someone threw it at me, it doesn’t matter really.” The gash goes up the back of his forearm from just a few inches above his wrist to a few inches below the elbow.

“Seems like you get in a lot of fights.” Laurent is getting very cocky for someone sitting in front of a person with such bad anger issues. 

“I don’t know how to control my anger.” Damen actually looks down at his arm for the first time, using it as proof for what he says. 

“You do when you want to.” Damen’s eyes jerk up in shock. “You threw that lamp a few weeks back and then came in here and pretended everything was fine. You spent two months almost completely fooling me into thinking you weren’t trying to kill me. When you want to control your anger, you can. You just don’t realize it.”

“That’s different.”

“Is it though?”

“That’s for you. This,” Damen motions down to his arm, “This is me, and I can’t control things for myself.”

“Can I see?” Laurent has to point to Damen’s arm when he stands motionless having no idea what Laurent is referring to. Damen slowly sits down on the bed next to Laurent to not scare him. Laurent sits up and grabs Damen arm to look at the gash, scaring Damen more than anything. It’s not deep and he already got it to stop bleeding before coming back into the bedroom so it's really nothing to worry about, Laurent just wanted to look at it. “Looks like the glass won.”

“It did,” Damen chuckles. 

“You need to work out those anger issues.” Laurent lets go and keeps his spot next to Damen. 

“You don’t think I realize that?” Damen snaps back. When he realizes how defensive he sounded he shakes his head and takes a breath.

“How many people have you killed?”

“A lot,” Laurent raises an eyebrow in hopes of a better explanation but Damen just smirks. “I’m not going to go over every person I’ve killed with you. We’re trying to get rid of my anger issues not make them worse.”

“Where did all that anger come from? Did you have problems in your childhood or something?”

“My childhood problems have nothing to do me wanting to kill people.” Damen’s smile falls right away and he sits up straighter.

“So you did have childhood problems?” Laurent leans in closer momentarily but Damen doesn’t look impressed so he just moves back to where he was before.

“That’s none of your business.” Damen snaps. 

“I’d love to know why I almost fucking died. Was it your parents? Shitty father?”

“I’m not talking about this.” Damen clenches his fist in his lap to keep himself calm but it doesn’t do much good. 

“Oh, struck a nerve have I?” 

“My father was a dick, but as I said, it has nothing to do with me killing people.”

“What did he do?” Laurent really doesn’t care what happened with Damen’s father. He doesn’t care about Damen at all anymore but it's fun to make him upset sometimes. Damen has made Laurent feel so powerless for so long that anything that upsets him feels good.

“Nothing that severe. He wanted me to be different.” As the stress seems to get to him, his fingers curl around the bedsheets in an attempt to stay calm. 

“Different how?”

“Laurent, I swear I don’t want to talk about this.”

“Am I making you upset?”

“Yes, kind of.”

“How did your father want you to be different?”

“You’re a pain in my fucking ass you know that? He wanted me to be straight, more like Kastor, less like him, the list could go on.” Damen struggles to keep his composure at this point. The more Laurent fights to hear about family stuff the more he’s learning how sensitive this is for Damen. Something must have happened at some point to make Damen hate talking about them this much. “He hated that I was okay with fucking men but I didn’t care what he thought.”

“Kastor?”

“My brother.”

“The one who fucked your girlfriend? Yeah, what a real role model.” Damen lets out somewhere between a laugh and a grunt but he doesn’t smile.

“Yeah well he also didn’t end up a drug-dealing murderer so there’s that too.”

“You killed him before he had the chance.” Damen’s head jerks up to look over at Laurent.

“I never told you that,” Damen says defensively.

“I’m not an idiot.” Damen stays silent for a moment, scanning Laurent’s face before he gives a small nod. 

“He fucked my girlfriend, he was always such an asshole to me. I couldn’t control myself, I shot him before I knew what was happening.” Damen’s hand trembles in his lap so he tries to hide it by squeezing his thighs. Talking about this is overwhelming to him and he has no idea how to deal with it. 

“You think he deserved to die over that?”

“Fuck, Laurent, I don’t know! He’s dead now so what does it matter? It’s not like I cared about him anyway.” Damen’s hands come up and grip on to his hair, resting his elbows on his knees. 

“What happened to make you hate him so much?”

“Because I did, I’m not telling you.” 

“Just because you had a shitty childhood doesn’t mean I should have almost died.” Damen’s head snaps up to look at Laurent with anger in his eyes. His body leaning over to the side closer than where Laurent lets his own sit. 

“I could have had the best family life and still slit your throat without mercy. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to right now.” Damen’s face is much closer than Laurent really wants it to be but he doesn’t move away.

“How long have you wanted to kill people?”

“As long as I can remember.” Damen leans in a little closer so Laurent moves back but falls back on his forearm on the bed. In the heat of the story, Damen just keeps coming in closer. 

“Were you one of those kids that killed animals when you were young?”

“No, I waited. I got into a lot of fights, but I didn’t kill anything or anyone until Jokaste fucked my brother and tried to tell me it wasn’t a big deal.” Damen gets close enough for Laurent to feel Damen’s breath on his cheek so he turns his head away.

“Surprising you waited so long to kill if you really felt that strongly about it.” 

“I wasn’t going to prison after the first one if I ever wanted to meet you.” Laurent pushes hard on Damen’s chest and scrambles back into the wall. Damen’s chest rises and falls heavily with dark glazed over eyes. He looks at Laurent like he did back on that day he tried to kill him. 

“Get out of this room.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

“Take a walk before you do something regrettable.” It takes a while of Laurent staying completely frozen in place to not set Damen off at all before he finally gets up from the bed. He walks away with a bounce in his step that Laurent hasn’t seen from him since the trials. 

As soon as the door closes behind him, Laurent collapses in on himself. He’s not sure if it's from sadness, fear, or just relief but he sits like this for a long time. His body trembles with emotions until he can’t stand it anymore and he explodes up. Laurent grabs the lamp from off the table and throws it across the room, smashing it against the wall. A glass of water still on the table gets thrown at the door and smashed. Laurent collapses back into the bed and crawls back into the back corner. It’s hours until Damen comes back in the room. As soon as he sees the broken glass and lamp shattered he stops and quietly cleans it up. The glass shards get swept up and thrown away but Damen doesn’t come near the bed. Even once he has everything picked up he just sits down at the table.

“I told you I can’t control myself, I don’t know how to fix it,” Damen says.

“You know how to control yourself, you chose not to.”


	5. Chapter 5

In the morning Laurent wakes up with his back pressed into the wall like normal. He becomes so accustomed to the stiffness in his joints from sleeping so straight and pressed into such a hard surface that the pain doesn’t even bother him anymore. He readjusts slightly only for a shooting pain to run up his spin and he just abandons his attempts to get comfortable. Next to him, Damen lay on his stomach staring over at Laurent. Even as Laurent's eyes just begin to blink open through the sleepiness, Damen has a look of pure happiness on his face. He shows no sign of tiredness on his face making it seem like he's probably been awake and staring for a while.

"Good morning, sweetheart," Damen says quietly so he doesn't bother Laurent too much. "You're up early."

"Stop staring at me." Laurent mumbles. Damen’s eyes don’t leave Laurent’s face when asked to so Laurent grabs the pillow between the two of them and hits Damen as hard as he can with it directly in the face. "Fucking creep."

"Sorry, you just look beautiful this morning," Damen tries, laughing and pulling the pillow down. Laurent scoffs and rolls over to face the wall. "You know that I love you, right?"

"You don't know what love is, because it's not this."

"That's what people keep telling me, maybe I'm wrong I guess. I know I want to love you if that means anything."

"It doesn't." Damen sighs but keeps staring even though Laurent told him to stop. “Let me go back to sleep.”

“I’m really sorry about yesterday, I let my temper get out of control. Can I make it up to you?”

“Probably not.” Laurent has been trying as hard as possible to be somewhat trusting of Damen. To live in this small box and be completely untrustworthy of him would drive Laurent insane so there had to be some compromises. But now, after yesterday when Damen was back in the same mindset of wanting to kill Laurent, it's really hard to give him any kind of trust.

“Come on, please, I’m trying here.”

“Do you know how many days its been since you kidnapped me? Because I don’t. I don’t even know what day of the week it is.” He tried really hard to count the days after he first woke up. It felt important to at least try to keep track of the days so he could hold on to something from the outside. But the withdrawal took away his sense of time and it messed with his memory so he’s not sure how many days he spent feeling so awful or how many days before that he had been at the house and that hurt like hell. Time meant nothing to Laurent anymore, he just existed for Damen to entertain himself with and it was exhausting, to say the least.

“It’s Tuesday.” Damen tries to moves the pillow between them away but Laurent slides further against the wall in protest until he leaves the pillow alone. 

“Like that really fucking matters anymore.” Damen sighs and keeps his position staring at the back of Laurent’s head. His hand reaches out between them, he wants desperately to be able to touch Laurent but he knows he’d never be allowed to.

"Can I show you around the house?" Damen asks.

"What?" Laurent asks, rolling back over to face Damen.

"I want to show you around the house," Damen smiles when Laurent quickly sits up in bed. He holds out a hand for Laurent which, unsurprisingly, he hesitates on taking.

“Where is this coming from?” Laurent asks. If Damen is just doing this so Laurent trusts him more then will he regret it later? 

“I’m trying to make it up to you. There are people that are coming over later that want to see you too, come on.” Damen reaches out his hand again and this time Laurent takes it. To hold Damen’s hand feels wrong and every part of Laurent tells him to distance himself from that man. But after all this time locked in this room, Laurent will do what Damen asks him to. Laurent trails along behind Damen as he unlocks the door with the key he keeps around his neck and brings him with down a short hallway into a kitchen. There is a small table against the wall with a chair on either side. On the other wall is the refrigerator, oven, sink, and microwave all shoved into a small area. If they kept walking straight out from the kitchen they would run into the door to outside. Right at the other side of the kitchen is a doorway into a small living room with a few couches and a chair. The windows in the living room are covered up with thick curtains and boarded up underneath. Another door leading outside is right next to the windows in the room.

"This is what you've been keeping a secret for all this time?" Laurent tries to step away but Damen doesn't let go of his hand when he moves. "This really isn't all that exciting."

"I'll let you come out here now as long as I'm here with you."

"You're fucking joking," Laurent rips his hand out of Damen's and steps away. "You have boards on the windows and you probably lock all the fucking doors anyways, give me some freedom."

"It's not like I'm going to hover, I just mean as long as I'm in the house you can wander wherever. If no one else is in the house I don't want you out here."

"You kept an empty house hidden from me? Why did I expect anything more from you? Let me go outside."

"No, you're going to try and run."

"You've proven you're not against going to the extreme to keep me here. Figure it out, I haven't seen the sun in so long."

"I said no, I'm not changing my mind."

Laurent rolls his eyes and walks off to sit on the couch. Damen sighs when he realizes Laurent isn't going to talk to him anymore and walks off to go shower. Laurent is still sleepy and on any other day, he would probably go back to bed with nothing else to do here. However, with this new freedom, he refuses to go back into the one room he was forced to live in for so many weeks. Even out here there's not much to do. The windows are covered by a thick blue curtain pulled over slightly on one side to show off the sheet of wood covering the windows. Now that Damen is in the shower, Laurent gets up to explore the house more. He walks the perimeter of the living room, looking for anything that he missed. On the side wall, there’s a door leading to a tiny bathroom for all of Damen’s friend’s to use when they come over. On the other wall, across from the entrance into the living room, is another door that Laurent assumes leads to outside. It has two different locks on it, one of which probably matches the key that hangs around Damen’s neck. Next to that is the window, even though it is boarded up Laurent can still see a tiny peek of sunlight in the corner. 

In the kitchen, he finds the fridge fairly empty at this point expected for a few of the essential. The sink is filled with last night’s dishes and everything he used to cook with. The appliances in the kitchen are older but not run down. Further down the hall at the front door, Laurent finds this one with two locks just like the other door. Of course, no matter what he does he can’t open it. In a closet by the door, he finds a washing machine and dryer.

After a while, Damen comes back out into the kitchen and Laurent hurries to lay back down on the couch even though he doesn't bother trying to talk to Laurent again. Damen does some cleaning up around the kitchen but he refuses to come into the living room to face Laurent. Both of them are upset so it's pointless to try and force conversation right now. All Laurent wants is to feel like he has a little bit of freedom but to Damen, this is freedom. It hasn’t occurred to Damen that this house is still tiny and its making Laurent feels trapped. He has the option to leave and go outside whenever he wants, Laurent doesn’t and the house feels like torture.

When the front door opens a while later, Laurent debates running towards it. There's no way he could get outside but at least maybe he could see outside for just a second. But without knowing what kind of people Damen is letting in the house, Laurent doesn't want to risk it. He keeps his spot on the couch staring at the window and listens to the footsteps heading to the kitchen. 

“Hey, Damen, what’s up?” A voice says. 

“You guys are early.” Damen sounds as irritated as he always is after he gets in an argument he doesn’t win. 

“No we aren’t, and who gives a shit anyway? What else do you have to do?”

“You left your door open,” Laurent remembers Nik’s voice right away. It takes a moment for Laurent to realize that Nik was referring to the bedroom door as if Laurent was some pet he might accidentally let out. 

“Yeah, I let him out.” Damen sounds sure of his decision but there’s a pause before Nik responds.

“Is that a good idea?” Nik’s response is so offensive to Laurent he wants to go in there and repay him for the punch in the face Nik gave him all those months ago.

“It is if I say it is.”

“I would have expected to see him at the door, trying to look outside after all this time.” A different familiar voice says.

“He probably doesn’t trust you guys.” Damen is right. Even though Damen tried to kill Laurent once, his actions are predictable. These men are new and Laurent has no idea the things that trigger their anger.

“I don’t blame him but I still haven’t seen the boy.” A mystery voice says.

"Laurent come here for a minute, please," Damen calls. Laurent reluctantly gets up and meets Damen in the kitchen with the other men standing around. "You remember Nik and Adrastus right?"

"Unfortunately," Laurent says, glaring over at Nik. Laurent has no memories of Nik helping Damen move here, which is probably a good thing. The last time Laurent remembers seeing Nik is the night before he found the photos. Adrastus, the other familiar voice, he remembers to be the man with Aimeric who wanted to kill him for being brothers to a cop. These men definitely aren’t seeming to be the most trustworthy.

"This is Lazar," Damen says, pointing to the other man nearby.

“Nice to finally meet you. Damen talks a lot about you.” Lazar says. 

"Thanks for introducing me to your junky friends, can I go now?" Damen sighs and shakes his head. All he wanted to do was introduce Laurent to his friends and it’s not working out for him. 

"Same bratty attitude as always I see," Nik mumbles to himself. "Your boyfriend is the only junky here."

"He's definitely not my fucking boyfriend." Laurent snaps. 

"Easy, both of you need to calm down," Damen says, placing a hand on Nik's shoulder to calm him down. There's no point in trying with Laurent, he would get even more aggressive if Damen touched him. Nik’s eyes dart over to Damen and he seems to attempt to relax but he still angrily looks at Laurent. "I don't care if you like each other you just need to be civil, please."

"Seems like a lot of drama for one boy. Sure he's pretty enough, but an attitude like that is not a turn on." Lazar says, letting his eyes trail over Laurent's body.

"I'm here against my will, I would not have this attitude if I had a choice in any of this." Laurent stomps off back to the couch in the living room. He refuses to go down the hall to the bedroom in fear of being trapped in there again. Weeks in such a small room has made Laurent appreciate this small house so much more. 

“Why the fuck did you bring him here? I told you it was a bad idea.” Nik snaps at Damen. 

“Leave him be if he wants to fuck the brat for some reason then let him.” Lazar, Laurent already doesn’t like him. 

“He’s not fucking him he’s just keeping him here.” Laurent hears the men make a few comments about him but Damen directs their conversation to something else and they all soon forget about the commotion Laurent just caused. The sound of the men talking lulls Laurent into a light sleep that he wakes up from any time he hears a loud noise. Laurent’s not sure how long this goes on for before it finally changes.

"He's a pretty one even with that attitude," Adrastus says, making Laurent jump awake and turn to face him standing in the doorway with Damen. The other two must have slipped out without Laurent even noticing. “To think you almost killed him you selfish bastard.”

“Yes, but I didn’t so let’s just appreciate that and stop shitting on me for a minute.” 

"I'd buy him from you if you’re ever offering." Laurent scoffs and lets out a laugh.

“I am not for sale.” If Damen brought him here then there is no reason he would ever want to sell him. This is only the second time they’ve met and Laurent hates Adrastus.

"Take him." Both of them turn to look at Damen as if he's crazy.

"Wait, seriously?"

"Take him, I want him to see your boys. If he likes it there then keep him and he can work for you, we'll discuss some form of payment later. If he doesn't like it, bring him back in a week." Damen smiles when he sees Laurent glare at him. "He's not one for following orders, you're going to have a tough time with him. I do have one requirement though. While he's with you, as long as he might be coming back to me, I don't want him to see outside. He doesn't know where we are right now and I want it to stay that way."

"That’s not a problem. I can break him for you too. He won't have an attitude the next time you see him." Adrastus walks over and sits down right next to Laurent with his back facing Damen.

"No, he's not working for you this week and you don't get to put your hands on him. Just show him what your boys do." Adrastus rolls his eyes and smirks. There’s something wrong, Laurent can already feel it but he could never get Damen to listen to him about it now. Adrastus and Laurent don’t have the best history anyway so if he’s planning something it's not going to be good. “We have been having some problems here, more like I have been having some problems. But we need a break from each other, this will be good for us anyway.”

"Whatever you say."

"You're just selling me like a pet? I see you finally realized you don't love me." Laurent spits. He’s so scared and upset that’s all he can think to say.

"I do love you Laurent, and I want you to see that."


	6. Chapter 6

"Come here sweetheart, let's go before your boyfriend changes his mind." Laurent gets up to leave with Adrastus without even a last look to him. "Where are his shoes?"

"He doesn't have any right now. I haven't had the chance or the need to get him any." Damen says somewhere behind Laurent. Adrastus shrugs and puts something over Laurent's eyes as a blindfold before cautiously escorting him out barefoot. The feeling of the sun on Laurent's skin makes him stall for a moment in bliss. Adrastus however is not up for waiting for Laurent to soak in the sun and pulls hard on Laurent's arm until they are at his car. Laurent also takes this chance to try and memorize the little things. The ground beneath his feet is a very hard dirt path filled with a lot of rocks like the road is not paved. While the sun feels good on his skin, he feels fairly shaded. When the wind blows he hears the sound of trees blowing in the wind. 

"Are you going to sit still or do I need to tie your hands together or something?" Adrastus asks.

"If you're taking me away from Damen I won't do anything, I promise," Laurent says as he's helped up into a car.

"You better not be lying," Adrastus mumbles as he closes the door. The drive really isn’t all that long but its so bumpy Laurent gets pretty disoriented. There were a total of five turns to get to this place and fifteen minutes of driving. Laurent tries his best to memorize the time it takes to get to every turn so maybe it will give him a better idea of where he is. “Sit still for a minute, I’ll be right back.”

“Sure,” This is the closest Laurent has been allowed in weeks to some kind of freedom. If he proves to Adrastus that he’ll behave then maybe he’ll be able to escape. A few minutes later Adrastus comes back out to the car and helps Laurent out. The cement beneath his feet here is much different than the rocks outside of Damen’s place. It’s cold and smooth under his feet like something in a garage. They slowly walk inside and the door is shut and locked behind him. 

"Welcome home Laurent." The blindfold is pulled off of him to reveal a darkened house with two boys now sitting in front of him. "This is Isander and Pallas."

"Hi, Laurent!" The boy named Isander says happily to Laurent.

"Isander, why don't you give Laurent a tour of the house," Adrastus asks. Isander nods happily and waves Laurent to follow.

"What you just saw was our living room, down this hall, is our bedroom." He leads Laurent down a short hallway to a large room with four different twin sized beds squeezed inside. Attached to the room is a bathroom about the same size as Damen's. "Adrastus was nice enough to give us the master bedroom to share."

"'Nice enough' I'm not sure he could fit all of these beds in a smaller room. There are two of you, why do you have so many beds?"

"This is his home, anything he offers us we need to be grateful for. He doesn't have to give you anything and he won't if he doesn't want to. Adrastus has been looking for some new boys to come work so he wanted to be ready." Isander points out one of the empty beds for Laurent to use and helps him get some sheets to put on it. “We used to have someone else here but he left a while ago.”

“Did you know Aimeric?” Isander’s face lights up at the mention of his name. 

“Aimeric! He was Adrastus’ favorite. I really miss him, did you know him?”

“Yeah, he dated my friend for a while.” The thought of Jord is hard to think about right now. 

“How is he? He worked really hard to get out. Adrastus would never do that for Pallas or I, He doesn’t like us as much.”

“He was arrested a while back actually.” Isander’s face falls and he stops what he’s doing. Laurent doesn’t blame him, even if Aimeric was an asshole to him, to Isander he was his friend and that’s hard to hear.

“What happened?”

“I don’t know the whole story but I hear he had coke on him, I’m pretty sure he was moving it for Damen.” Isander nods and waves Laurent along as they make their way back down the hallway. On the way Laurent stalls to glance at a closed door, trying the handle but finding it locked. 

"No, not there. That's Adrastus' room. We aren't allowed in there, come on you don't want to get in trouble."

"How long have you live here?" Laurent asks as Isander rushes them down the hall and over to the kitchen which is right off of the living room.

"We all moved here a month ago." Isander glances around nervously as if he's afraid someone might hear them talking.

"Where are we?" Laurent asks. Suddenly a large hand grabs Laurent by the back of the shirt and spins him around.

"Isander, thank you for showing him around, you can go now. Pallas needs help with the laundry." He says over the top of Laurent's head. Isander nervously shuffled past Laurent and out of the room. "You know better than to ask those questions. Damen has rules just as I do. Do not try to break them."

"Fine." Laurent spits. He rips an arm out of Adrastus' grip and steps away.

"You better get yourself comfortable, you get to work tonight." Laurent stops mid-step to turn around and face him again, he knew there was something wrong.

"Damen said I'm not working."

"Fuck Damen, he gave you to me for the week, I'm going to do what I want." Adrastus spits. “Go make yourself busy.”

Laurent finds the boys folding laundry in a room off of the living room and decides to join them. Isander insists he doesn’t need to help but if he’s going to be here for a week, he should probably help out around the house a little. It turns out Adrastus does absolutely nothing to help out around the house. The two do the laundry, clean the house, make food, and anything else Adrastus decides to tell them to do during the day. The amount of stuff he refuses to help out with seems ridiculous to Laurent. By the end of the day Laurent was completely exhausted from all the work he helped out with.

“You should get some rest before we go out tonight,” Isander say. 

Laurent doesn’t disagree, he’s still tired from this morning and sleep doesn’t sound bad right now. The idea of going out somewhere tonight makes him nervous but the exhaustion overpowers him and soon he falls into a light sleep. After weeks away from home, it doesn’t really bother him to sleep in strange places anymore. Later that night Laurent wakes up suddenly to the blankets being ripped off of him. 

"Laurent, get up." Adrastus spits, shaking him awake. He tosses an outfit down in Laurent's lap and steps back. "Put this on, you need to be ready in five minutes."

"Where are we going?"

"That's not a question you get to ask. Get dressed, now." Laurent is pulled up on his feet and shoved down toward the bathroom. The clothes he was given are a transparent white long sleeve lace shirt that has a neck going half way down his chest and a pair of silk white shorts that barely cover his ass. The shoes he's given are soft white flats that easily slip on and off. "Laurent, hurry the fuck up."

"Why am I wearing this?" Adrastus doesn't answer and drags him out to the front door. Before he opens the door a long coat is put on him and a blindfold is placed over his eyes. “A coat?”

“Your ass is showing sweetheart, I can’t take you out in public like that.” He's dragged outside and placed into the car that he has to step up to get into. Laurent jumps hard when he feels a hand touch his wrist. 

"It's okay, it's just me," Isander says softly.

"What's going on?"

"We're going to meet some buyers," Isander keeps close to Laurent to keep him calm with the blindfold on. It’s very disorienting not being allowed to know where you are or what is about to happen and Isander tries his best to keep Laurent from panicking. They drive for about twenty minutes before the car is stopped 

“You know where you’re going?” Adrastus asks. 

“Of course,” Pallas says quietly slipping out of the front seat of the car. Laurent didn’t even know he was in here and now he’s suddenly gone. A moment later Adrastus gets out and Laurent is escorted out of the car with no idea where Isander is anymore. Once they step inside the mystery place, the blindfold is pulled off and he's left standing in a small room. A glance around the room at the generic room lay out tells Laurent they are in some cheap motel room. The anxiety Laurent has attached to motel rooms makes him back away in fear, only to run straight into Adrastus.

"Woah, where are you going? I know everyone gets nervous their first time but I thought you'd feel more comfortable in a place like this. Take your shoes off." Adrastus pulls the coat off of Laurent and guides him to kick his shoes off before pushing him towards the bed. “On the bed.”

Laurent crawls up on the bed tucking his legs underneath himself and leaning on his arm in a boyish posture. The only way for him not to panic in this motel room is to treat this all like its not a big deal. Adrastus smiles and steps out of the room, motioning for Laurent to stay put, and disappearing outside. Laurent sits alone in the room for a long while until Adrastus comes back into the room followed by a tall dark-haired man.

"This is Laurent, he might be one of my new boys. Laurent, this is Govart you better be on your best behavior. I just thought I'd bring him here on a test run so he can see what he's getting himself into."

"Does he have my product?" Govart kneels down in front of Laurent. The fear in Laurent makes him want to scramble backward and run away but he stays still to seem strong. Damen said Laurent wouldn't have to work but here he is with this strange man in front of him, treating him like a piece of meat.

"No, I didn't want to scare him the first time out. Isander is outside, I'll bring him in when you're ready." Govart nods and puts a hand on Laurent's knee.

"You're fucking beautiful, you know that? Such fair skin, you look like you haven't seen the sun in a while. A little skinny though, Adrastus needs to put some weight on you." He runs a hand up over Laurent's waist and moves to sit next to him. Laurent keeps his posture the same so Govart grabs his legs and pulls them out from under him so Laurent is sitting up straight. Govart’s hand travels up Laurent's chest and into his shirt to slide it down off of Laurent's shoulders. Laurent's entire body shudders as his fingers run over the scars across his chest. "Look at these scars. To think someone could ruin such a flawless body."

"I know, it's disappointing, even the beautiful ones have a few flaws." Govart moves his hand back up and over Auguste's necklace.

"That's a weird necklace." Govart leans in close and in pure rage, Laurent headbutts him right in the nose. "What the fuck!"

"You keep your filthy hands off of me." Laurent spits at Govart as Adrastus lifts him up under his arm and drags him away, his shirt still pushed halfway off his shoulders somewhat pinning his arms down preventing much of a fight.

"I'm so sorry, he's new he doesn't seem to understand the rules yet. He'll be punished for sure." The coat and blindfold are put back on Laurent and he's dragged back out to the car. "Isander, inside. We'll be waiting in the car."

"Is everything alright?" Isander asks softly.

"Laurent made a mistake. Get inside now, I want to get this over with already." Laurent is shoved face first into the backseat of the car. "You so much as move a muscle I'll beat the life out of you. Do you understand me?"

"Loud and clear." He stays laying flat on the backseat until Isander eventually opens the door and scoots Laurent over enough to sit down. The trip back is quiet with Laurent still laying flat not sure if he's allowed to move yet. Isander hops out on his own but Laurent has to wait for Adrastus to grab him by the ankle and drag him out backwards. Laurent lands hard on the ground but Adrastus doesn't wait for him to get up. He's lifted up to his feet by the back of the coat and dragged back to the house. As soon as he's inside Adrastus takes off the blindfold and coat, leaving Laurent standing half-dressed in front of him.

"You do not get to talk back to clients, you're fucking lucky all he was going to get to do is kiss you, just ask Isander. He's had to endure far worse than you did today." Laurent is dragged by the back of the shirt and thrown into the bedroom. “Clean him up.”

"Are you alright?" Isander asks as soon as Adrastus is out of the room. He helps Laurent up and on to his bed.

"I'm fine."

"You hurt the man at the motel?"

"He was trying to touch me." Isander drops his head and gives a small smile. Laurent glances up and notices Pallas standing in the bathroom cleaning makeup off of his face, he only glances over at Laurent and gives a small smirk. He’s wearing a bright red lipstick that is smeared across his face. The foundation on his face is a shade too light and makes him look pale and strange.

"That's just part of the job, he won't hurt you unless you fight him." Laurent looks up and notices the white stains on the front of Isander's shirt. He wears a similar outfit to Laurent’s but its dark blue in color and is just one piece instead of two. The outfit barely covers any of him making Isander blush when he notices Laurent looking.

"He asked if I had the product, what product?"

"We are drug mules. We are all used to discreetly bring buyers whatever products they desire." Isander's cheeks turn pink under Laurent's stare.

"How?"

"I think you know how. Adrastus was very kind to not make you bring the product this time. Next time he probably won't be as easy on you, either you can figure out how to hide the product or he will. It's much easier if you do it yourself."

"It looks like he did more to you than just take whatever it was he asked for," Laurent says pointing at the front of Isander's shirt with the white staining.

"If they pay extra they are allowed to do as they please with us, not everyone wants to but that man alway does." Laurent's hand recoils at Isander's words. That man wanted to fuck Laurent if he wouldn't have defended himself.

“It’s a blowjob Laurent, it’s not a big deal.” Pallas spits, walking over to get in bed. “What did you think we did here?”

"I don't think any of this is very discreet if Adrastus escorts you in the room and treats you like a prostitute."

"He doesn't usually, but for some reason, he does not wish for you to see outside," Isander says. He hurries to clean off the front of his shirt in the bathroom. Adrastus doesn’t let the boys keep any clothes in their room so they don’t get to change after going out. 

"That's all Damen, he doesn’t want me to know where we are. If Adrastus found out you told me he’d probably kill you, Damen has been in a mood lately." 

"You should get some sleep Laurent." Pallas says, turning out the lights.   
*  
Laurent lays in bed for hours staring up at the ceiling. Today's events were so traumatic he doesn't know if he could do that again without snapping like he did. He's not going to let anyone touch him if he doesn't want it, and he doesn't want any of this. It’s not that he’s traumatized from what happened, because really nothing happened. It’s that he swore he would never let another person take advantage of him again and being here means that’s what he has to do. Out of boredom and anxiety Laurent decides to check out the house some more. He walks out into the living room and goes to explore when the front door stops him. That door is the only thing between him and freedom right now. It doesn't take him long to start looking at the locks to see if he can figure out how to get out of here. Only one lock, unlike Damen’s, but still impossible to open without the key. 

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Adrastus says as he walks out on Laurent. 

“I’m just looking around.” Laurent takes a defensive step back as he inches forward. 

“No, I was warned about you. I’m not going to play your games.” Laurent does the only thing left to do and swings at Adrastus only for his hand to be caught on its way and Laurent thrown to the ground. The first kick comes at Laurent hard and fast into his stomach. The kicks come repeatedly to both his stomach and face until he is dragged up to his knees by the front of his shirt now hanging off of him. Laurent is ready this time when the punches start. The blows to his face leave him dizzied as blood pours out of both his mouth and nose. "You're lucky I can't ruin that precious face of yours."

"I think you already did," Laurent mumbles

"No, you'll heal. I could do much worse to you if I wanted to." Adrastus drags Laurent, whose legs have now gone completely limp, down to a bathroom off of the kitchen and throws him on the floor inside. "Let's see if we can break that attitude problem of yours after a few days in here."


	7. Chapter 7

Laurent's body aches in ways that make it impossible to get up from the floor. In a daze of sleepiness and throbbing pain throughout his body, he blacks out. Hours later he wakes up to the sound of voices somewhere on the other side of the door.

"Where is Laurent?" Isander asks.

"He tried to run away, so now he's being punished." Adrastus shuts down anymore conversation about Laurent and proceeds to cook the other two boys a nice breakfast. The smell finds its way into the bathroom with Laurent whose stomach rumbles at the memories of Damen's amazing cooking. As the three eat breakfast and actually joke around together, Laurent lay on the floor trying to find a way to keep warm. The bathroom is freezing barely wearing clothes but the only thing helpful in there is a hand towel. To make the punishment worse Adrastus turned the air conditioning on high to make the bathroom even colder for Laurent. It hurts to breathe deeply or move at all so Laurent does his best to stay still on the floor. It took an hour after he woke up from the beating for Laurent to actually get up and address his injuries. His chest was covered in black and blue but it doesn't seem like anything is broken. His face, after rinsing away the blood, is pretty messy. The side of his face is swollen from where the boot hit along with his lip and eye. The deep purple bruising already covers most of Laurent's face and neck. The best thing for bruises and swelling this bad would be to ice them so the best thing Laurent can think to do is lay out on the cold tile floor.

Laurent’s sense of time in a small room like the bathroom is very focused on the sounds of those outside because of Damen. He spent so many weeks in the bedroom he’s learned to listen to the smallest sounds to try and learn the time of day. For example, Damen used to make a phone call once a week to someone, always at the same time and always about the same thing. Today, outside the bathroom door, Adrastus has the opposite end of the conversation Damen has meaning it was about three in the afternoon. Yesterday when the boys ate dinner they ate at around seven, so assuming they typically eat at around the same time Laurent assumed it was around then when he hear the boy talking and the smell of food cooking in the kitchen. Later that night, he knows they left the house at around midnight so as soon as he hears the front door shut he know exactly where they are heading. This routine goes on for another day, and then another. It’s the third day that Laurent is so cold, hungry, and exhausted he just lays in the corner of the bathroom completely giving up on trying to tell what time it is. When the door finally opens behind him Laurent doesn’t even have it in him to lift his head to look.

"Laurent, get up." Adrastus grabs Laurent under the arm and drags him out of the bathroom and down the hall to the bedroom. He's tossed on the floor at the feet of Isander. "Clean him up, get those bruises covered up. We need to go in an hour."

"Yes, sir." Laurent stays sitting on the ground trying to get the room to stop spinning. With no food the past three days his body is left with nothing to keep him going. "Laurent, come here you don't want to get in trouble."

"I don't care about getting in trouble," Laurent growls. He doesn't fight when Isander helps him up and guides him into the bathroom to shower.

"Please shower quickly we need time to put the makeup on." Laurent does as he says and as soon as the warm water hits his freezing skin he doesn't want to leave. But he doesn't want to risk getting Isander in trouble too so he gets out of the shower quickly only to be greeted by Isander with a granola bar in hand. "I know this isn't much but we have a few things hidden in the room for times like this. You'll need some energy for tonight, here."

"Thank you," Laurent eats slowly, savoring every last bite like it might be the last thing he ever has. The boys sit him down in front of the bathroom mirror to start the task of covering the mess Adrastus did to his body. The swelling to his face might have gone down now but the bruises are still very visible. Isander and Pallas do their best to cover all the bruises on Laurent's body, even ones that seem irrelevant to him. 

"These men don't want to see bruises on the boys they rent. I don't know how far he lets them go with you but Adrastus told me to cover the bruises." Laurent flinches when Isander's finger slips and presses the bruise too hard and Isander is quick to pull back and apologize. It takes the entire hour Adrastus gave them to get the bruises covered. They have to put more than one layer of foundation down to cover some of the darker ones. Despite the strange makeup he wore the other day, Pallas is actually fairly good at makeup. He knows what colors to use to help hide others and how to make everything look as natural as possible. Laurent found out that the makeup he wore is what his regular buyer likes for some reason so that’s what he has to wear. 

When Adrastus comes to get them Pallas is just finished putting the last bit of lipstick on himself. The other two are allowed to walk to the door by themselves but Adrastus doesn’t trust Laurent so he walks along behind him to the door. Adrastus gets irritated at how slowly Laurent walks and ends up dragging him out to the car. 

“You better fucking behave this time.” Adrastus slams the car door so hard Laurent flinches. On the drive there Isander holds onto Laurent’s wrist to try and keep him relaxed. “I’ll lock you in that bathroom for the rest of the time you’re with me if you do something stupid again, do you understand me?”

“I understand,” Laurent mumbles. Adrastus helps him out and walks him inside. He already knows to get on the bed and wait so as soon as the coat and blindfold are taken off he walks off to go sit on the bed. Today he’s wearing almost the same outfit as last time but the sleeves only come half way down his arms. A few minutes later when Govart and Adrastus walk in, Govart stops dead in his tracks.

"This brat again?" Govart spits as soon as he sees Laurent sitting on the bed.

"He's not going to do anything this time. He was punished for the last time, I think he knows better now." Adrastus stays standing by the door while Govart slowly creeps closer to Laurent. "I only have a few more days with him before he decides to stay or leave. I needed to take him out at least once more before then."

"I never thought you gave drug mules the option to leave." He finally makes his way to sit next to Laurent, who stays quiet and keeps his hands to himself as he was told. Govart tilts Laurent's head up to look at his features better. He notices the makeup on Laurent's cheek but he doesn't mention it. "Well, this one is more of a whore instead isn't he? Too afraid to do his job."

"He's a special case. He's not mine as of right now so I can't really make him work yet, but that will be decided very soon." The man's hand runs down the front of Laurent's chest like he did last time, this time going much lower than he had before.

"Last time I touched you, you hit me over a comment on that necklace. You need to learn how to keep that attitude in check if you're going to get anywhere in this life." Laurent is quickly grabbed tight around the throat and dragged to lay on the bed. "Your heart is racing, are you nervous?"

The man tears Laurent's shirt off at the seam and tosses it to the side. This time as the man runs his fingers over all of his scars Laurent just closes his eyes and trembles, not letting himself react to anything. The punishments from Adrastus are not worth it in the end. His body is too weak from the lack of food to do much fighting anyway. He'd rather let this strange man touch him for awhile than take another beating from Adrastus. His hot breath against Laurent’s skin is sickening. Govart just reaches the waistband on Laurent's shorts when Adrastus finally steps in.

"That's enough, Laurent grab your shirt, it's time to go."

"What the fuck? We had a deal, if I pay extra I get to do whatever I want to them." The man grabs Laurent by the wrist and keeps him pinned down to the mattress.

"Not this one, do what you want with Isander, just not Laurent, let him go." Laurent tries to shift out of his grip but still can not move.

"I don't want Isander, I want him." Adrastus shakes his head and Laurent is finally allowed to get up and grab the torn pieces of his shirt on his floor. He's helped into his coat and blindfold and quickly escorted out before the man can make a scene.

"Isander, your turn. He's a little upset, I'll give you something special at home if he's an ass to you." Isander silently slips past Laurent and who in turn is helped into the car. Adrastus stays completely silent as they wait for Isander to come back out. It takes much longer this time for Isander to come back out. Pallas jumps out of the car and hurries out to help Isander get in and stays in the back with him instead of the front. 

“Are you okay?” Pallas whispers.

“It hurts.” On the drive home every bump they hit Isander lets out a small whimper in pain. Back at the house, Isander is slow to get out of the car and Laurent has to wait for Pallas to help him get out before Adrastus can bring him in. "Good job today, Laurent."

"What happened to Isander?"

"Just a little sore, that's all." Laurent hurries down the hall to the bedroom to find Isander quietly crying to himself with Pallas kneeling next to him trying to comfort him. Laurent can see the bruise already forming on Isander's cheek and the fingerprints around his neck.

"What happened?" Laurent asks.

"He was angry with Adrastus for taking you away so he took it out on me. He's never been that rough, I wasn’t expecting that from him." Isander sobs to himself as Pallas gets up and starts a bath for him. "He was too rough on me."

"I'm so sorry, this is my fault."

"No, it's not, those men just do that sometimes. He liked you a lot, that's not your fault." Pallas and Laurent leave and let Isander take a bath. When he comes out later he goes right to bed without another word to anyone.  
*  
In the morning Laurent walks out to see Adrastus sitting on the couch casually reading something on his laptop. 

“Laurent get me a cup of coffee.” Adrastus says, not even bothering to look up at him. Laurent manages to keep his anger in long enough to walk the few feet across the kitchen to pour him a cup of coffee. As soon as he reaches out for it, Laurent pours it into his lap. “Fuck! What the fuck! You little bastard!”

“You let him fucking hurt Isander! You knew Govart was going to hurt him and you still let that happen!” Laurent is hit so hard across the face he is sent tumbling into the wall behind him. 

“Don’t you dare talk to me like that.” Adrastus spits. He grabs Laurent by the back of his hair and drags him to stand. “You know what? You just earned all three of you a day out.”

“What? No, Isander is hurt.” Laurent fights hard but he’s dragged down the hall and stumbles over his own feet as they make their way down the hall. 

“What’s going on?” Pallas asks. 

“Adrastus please, just bring me. Don’t do this.” Laurent receives another smack across the face when he tries to push Adrastus away from Isander’s bed.

“All three of you, get ready. Pallas, get makeup on both of them.” Isander wakes up terrified but gets up quickly in fear of the repercussions of not following orders. The outfit Laurent is given to wear is just as skimpy as usual. The silky black shorts barely cover his ass and easily come untied in the front when the string is pulled. The top black lace shirt is high neck this time with long sleeves that flare out half way down his arm. He had to have Pallas help him put it on because it laces all the way up the back. Laurent never got the chance to wash off the make up from last night so he only needs a few touch-ups. Isander’s neck and face have small round bruises from where his fingers squeezed and where he was hit hard for no reason. This job might be his life but he still holds his breath trying to keep himself from crying in fear. As soon as Adrastus walks in to get the three Isander grabs Pallas’ hand and doesn’t want to let go. This time as they head out Adrastus does bother putting the coat on Laurent. The entire ride there Isander trembles in his seat next to Laurent who does his best to keep him calm. This time Pallas sits in the back with the two of them so he doesn’t have to sit near Adrastus. 

“Come on, let’s go.” Adrastus pulls Laurent out of the car and guides him inside the motel room. “All three of you, up on the bed and wait.”

In the few minutes of waiting, all Laurent can seem to think about is his brother. Auguste, the cop who arrested countless people like Adrastus and Govart. But did he ever arrest anyone like Isander and Pallas? Yes, what these boys are doing could be considered prostitution and if Auguste came across them and didn’t know about Adrastus he probably would have had to arrest them. If Auguste could only see Laurent now it would break him. He was overprotective over the smallest things, this was too much. If he were alive when Laurent disappeared there would be no way he’d still be missing now. He’d be home and safe and not about to deal with this man who desperately wants to fuck him. But then again, Laurent would have never met Isander and Pallas, and then he wouldn’t know the horrible conditions they live in.

“I don’t want to die.” Isander whimpers to Pallas. “What if he goes too far this time?”

“What? All three? What is this?” Govart says as soon as he sees the boys sitting on the bed. “I’m not paying for all of them. Isander is the only one I really like.”

“I’m only charging you for him, don’t worry.”

“Good.”

“You get an hour, you can do what you want to Pallas and Isander but don’t fuck Laurent. If you do I’m not selling to you anymore.”

“Fine, I don’t care, I have these two anyway.” Adrastus looks at the three for a moment before closing the door and leaving them alone with Govart. “What did I do to deserve this?”

“It’s been a while since you’ve wanted to see me,” Pallas says. 

“That’s because Isander knows how to suck my dick just fine and you’re not my type. That reminds me, how are you feeling sweetheart?” Isander trembles in his spot next to Laurent but he know better than to look scared. “Laurent, come here.”

“I’m sorry to have upset you last night but it was Adrastus who took me away. You shouldn’t have taken it out on Isander.” Laurent does his best to swallow his pride and stay calm when talking to Govart even when all he wants to do is kill this man. Living with Damen for this long has his eyes scanning the room for something to stab this man with. The only thing he can come up with, a lamp to throw at his head. “I’d rather you take your anger out on me first.” 

“Look at you, a brave little twink trying to stand up for his friends. I can’t even fuck you.” Govart is significantly taller and larger than Laurent is. A hand reaches out and grabs Laurent around the throat faster than he even realizes what’s happening. Isander gasps and Govart’s fingers squeeze tighter. Laurent’s toes scrap at the ground trying to find some type of footing as Govart lifts him up. “You know what? Maybe it’s about time I get clean.” 

“Wow, you want to kill me because you can’t fuck me? I think I know someone you might get along well with.” Laurent struggles to say. Govart scoffs in disgust and throws Laurent to the ground like a doll. 

“Don’t talk to me like that.” Govart kicks him back down in the temple and kneels down next to him. “You stay down there until I’m done.”

Laurent’s head ache’s as he stares off under the bed. His vision goes fuzzy but it never goes completely dark. He tries his best to just keep his mind focused on the charm of his necklace pressed against his chest. Its the only thing that to keep him calm and focused enough on where he is in the room. Laurent hears Govart’s grunting but he never brings his head up to look at the boys. He doesn’t want to have the image in his mind of what they do in here. It would never make him think lesser of them, but the reminder of this moment is not something he wants to have to think about again. Laurent doesn’t know how long he lays on the floor for before the sounds stop and someone is hovering over him.

“Laurent, come on. Let’s go home.” Pallas helps Laurent stands up and puts his blindfold back on before escorting both of the boys back out to the car. 

“Did you learn your lesson?” Adrastus asks. All Laurent can manage is a groan and falls over to lay in the seat next to him, laying across Isander’s lap.

“Are you alright?” Isander asks.

“My head hurts a lot.”

As soon as they walk inside Laurent rushed to the bathroom to throw up. He was dizzy beyond belief and just sat on the floor until Isander came to help him to the shower. Laurent knew there was makeup on him but he didn’t have it in him to scrub it off. His head was throbbing and even the thought of moving made him nauseous. But he knew it needed to get done so the makeup was scrubbed from his skin until he was left pink. It felt like a miracle to him when he found real clothing when he got out of the shower. Still not as nice as at Damen’s but better than what he had been wearing. Silk shorts that were actually long enough to cover him and a soft cotton shirt.

“Do you feel any better?” Pallas asks.

“Not really.”

“He hit you really hard.” Isander mumbles.

“What happened? I don’t remember.” Pallas and Isander look at each other for a second before Pallas hurries out of the room. Isander helps Laurent to bed without giving him an explanation. 

“Let me see,” Adrastus says as he walks in the room with Pallas. Both boys give Laurent a silent apology for bringing him in here when Laurent has no idea what's going on. Adrastus grabs Laurent’s chin and looks in his eyes, receiving a wince in pain in return. “Do you remember what happened to you today?”

“No? I told them I don’t remember.”

“Why doesn’t he remember?” Isander asks. 

“He probably has a concussion, we should let him rest.”

“Will he be okay?” Isander asks again. The boys were never taught about things like this so they only know what Adrastus is willing to tell them. They’ve never seen someone experience memory loss like this before so to him this is terrifying.

“With some time, yeah he’ll be fine. Just let him rest.”


	8. Chapter 8

A day of normalcy was a nice change from the previous few at the house. Laurent would much rather cook and clean the house all day in silence than worry about going out to work. When they came home that afternoon after Govart, Laurent had to be put into bed. Govart hit him in the head so hard he threw up as soon as they got home and was dizzy beyond belief. The next day though, his dizziness wasn’t as bad and all he was left with was a dull headache.

When the boys woke up in the morning they tried to keep Laurent in bed, but he refused to listen to them. He didn’t want them to have to do all the work while he just sat in bed all day like back at Damen’s. So, once they agreed to let him get up they decided to work together and had everything done by noon so Laurent had time to rest again. 

“So, why did Damen sell you anyway?” Pallas asks, sitting back on his bed to lean against the wall.

“He didn’t really, I’m only here for a week. If I like it here then I stay if I don’t then I go back. He needed a break from me and he was tired of my attitude all the time.” All the boys sit on their own beds enjoying each others company. Adrastus could come tell them to do something at any minute so any minute to relax together is enjoyable.

“He gave you Adrastus to be hurt and he wants you back?”

“I guess I wasn’t supposed to work, Adrastus, of course, doesn’t listen.” Isander giggles and motions for Laurent to keep it down. Laurent still isn’t used to keeping his comments to himself or quiet so that he doesn’t have to deal with the punishments from it. 

“Damen tried to kill you, right?” Pallas asks. Laurent nods and leans back against the wall too, nursing his growing headache. “So what’s worse, living with your attempted murderer or here where you have to deal with Adrastus and horny drug addicts?”

“I don’t know, at Damen’s place I didn’t get hurt. But here I’m not alone, it’s so fucking lonely over there when he locks me in that bedroom by myself.” This wasn’t the first time Laurent had thought about this. This was the only thing really on his mind the whole week. He had the choice to stay here if he wanted, but is getting beat and fucked by strangers better than living alone with Damen?

Adrastus doesn’t make them do much else that day, he even cooks dinner for them so Laurent gets to go to bed early and rest his aching head. He gets a few more hours of sleep in than normal before Adrastus comes in to interrupt their sleep. It’s much later than normal and his tone is less irritated this time.

“Pallas, Berenger wants to see you.” Adrastus says, turning on the lights. “Laurent I want you dressed too.”

“Yes sir.” Pallas gets to work right away getting Laurent covered in the thick makeup to cover the bruises. They take only about half as much time to do it as they did the first time. Laurent ends up in the same black lace outfit he wore just the other afternoon and Pallas in a fairly similar white one with a long silk black robe over. The new part is the jewelry given to him. Gold wrist bands that wrap up his arms like snakes and little jewels that Pallas braids into his hair. Pallas wears a gold necklace too but because Laurent refused to take off his own necklace, they didn’t want to overdo it and he didn’t have to wear anything more.

“You look pretty, Laurent,” Isander say as soon as he sees Laurent walk out of the bathroom. 

“For all the wrong reasons.” Laurent scoffs.

“Berenger isn’t bad, right Pallas?”

“He’s not like Govart, he’s nicer. You won’t have to worry about him anyway, do what I tell you to do okay? He’ll barely even talk to you.” Pallas adds a black silk robe on both himself and on Laurent before they walk out of the room. To be ready before Adrastus comes in to get them surprises him. This seems odd though because Adrastus is also dressed up in a nice suit. 

“Eager to go?” Adrastus asks. Laurent already knows the routine, blindfold on and march out to the car where he’s lifted up inside. The drive itself is different than it usually is though. Laurent has memorized how long it takes to get to and from the usual motel they go to. This place takes twice as long to get to with half the turn and it sounds like they drive on the major roads instead of the broken ones he’s used to. “I’ll be close by, Berenger will text me when you’re done.”

As soon as Adrastus lets Pallas get out, he grabs Laurent’s hand faster than Adrastus has the chance to and pulls him toward the building. They rush for a few steps to get away from Adrastus and they slow to a walk.

“Why is Adrastus all dressed up?” Laurent questions.

“He’s got other business to do while we’re in here, he’s got eyes on us still though don’t think about running or some stupid shit it won’t work.”

“Of course.” They walk through a door that seems more like a side door than the front door and into a silent building. 

“When we get inside just sit in the chair by the door and let me take care of this.” Pallas says quietly to Laurent as they walk. They walk down a long hallway and up some stairs before finally making it to the room. Inside the hotel room Pallas takes off Laurent’s blindfold and helps fix the few hairs out of place. There is a large window across from the door they walked in that Pallas hurries over to and closes the curtains, it’s not like Laurent could see much out of it anyway it’s so late it’s too dark to see anything. As Pallas said there is a chair right by the door that he places himself in while Pallas impatiently sits at the edge of the bed to wait. The black robe he wears lay open with the string dangling at his side. It takes a while before the door finally clicks and slowly pushes open. Pallas’ face lights up as soon as he sees him but he stays where he is on the bed. 

“Hey you, nice to see you.” The man Laurent knows to be Berenger steps inside. He wears an expensive dark blue suit with a dark red tie. 

“It’s been a while since you asked for me.” Berenger pulls Pallas in a hug and twirls him around to set him down on his feet. At some point Berenger notices Laurent because he motions over to him, taking Pallas’ attention away for a second. 

“I see you brought a friend.”

“Yeah, this is Laurent, he’s just here to keep us company. He’s not allowed to do much.”

“That’s alright, I just wanted to see you. I wasn’t hoping for anyone else. Make yourself comfortable, Laurent.” 

“Come here,” Pallas pulls on Berenger’s tie but doesn’t get the response he was looking for. 

“Not in front of your friend, Pallas.” Pallas frowns and flops back on the bed, letting the his robes fall open to the side being a lot more revealing of himself. After all this time, Pallas know how to get what he wants most of the time and, apparently, this is it. “Not in front of your friend, that’s just for us.”

“But you won’t want to see me again for another month.” Pallas whines.

“I’ll ask to see you again this weekend.” Berenger sits down and pulls Pallas to sit up. “I promise, next time we’re alone. Now, are you two hungry? I can order you something to eat.”

“You know we can’t. If Adrastus finds out.” 

“He won’t find out, it’s our little secret.”

“I can’t, not when Isander can’t.” Even when he’s out with someone who just wants something from him, Pallas still thinks about his friend when offered something nice. He is already getting to stay in this nice hotel with this nice man, having food would make Pallas feel really bad about himself. 

“Come on, let me treat you to something. Dessert?” Pallas rolls his eyes but nods. “Good, your friend over there looks like a skeleton.”

“He’s not that bad.” Pallas laughs. Berenger grabs the phone and manages to stretch it into the bathroom to make the call so it can ‘be a surprise’ for them when it comes.

“Champagne and chocolate covered strawberries for you. If you’re afraid of him getting mad over dessert this barely counts as one.” He pours three glasses of champagne for them and they all sit down. Laurent refuses the strawberries so Berenger and Pallas can sit together on the bed with them. Pallas is very obviously happy for once and Laurent doesn’t want to get in the middle of that so he will just stay off to the side as much as possible. 

The champagne is sweet and reminds Laurent of the year he made manager at his office. Auguste was so proud of him he wanted to tell everyone they knew but Laurent really didn’t want that. He never had been one to need the attention of others around him so the idea of all those people he didn’t even like calling and congratulating him was repulsing. So instead, Auguste went out and bought a bottle of champagne and the two stayed in and celebrated alone together just as Laurent wanted from the beginning. Auguste was so proud of Laurent for accomplishing so much at such a young age. Ever since that night champagne has been saved for very special occasions between the two.

At this point, Pallas’ entire robe is slipped off and the tie on Berenger’s shirt ‘accidentally’ got untied so it hangs loosely on his chest just waiting for Berenger to pull it away or say Pallas can take it off. Berenger’s jacket sits slightly moved off of one shoulder where Pallas tried to push it away but got stopped so he moves on to his tie. Berenger tries not to put too much focus on him but Pallas desperately pulls at his tie. Pallas pulls harder on his tie until he slips it all the way off and tosses it away. 

“Do you want me to go wait in the bathroom?” Laurent asks. Pallas nods his head but Berenger doesn’t say anything at first. 

“Would you?” Berenger sighs. Laurent nods and takes himself into the bathroom to sit for a while. The bathroom is much preferable to Laurent over dealing with a man like Govart. If this is how every night went then it wouldn’t be so bad, but knowing this is a one time thing makes Laurent long for that lonely bedroom back at Damen’s place. At least there he knew what was coming for him. There weren’t any surprises and when there were they didn’t injure anyone. 

This hotel room has to have cost Berenger a lot of money based on how the room looks but the bathroom just adds to that. The bathroom is huge with a walk-in glass shower, double sinks, and a large soak tub. There’s plenty of floor space in between all of this for more than one person to move around and not bump into each other. The bathroom back at Damen’s place was smaller than this one but it was homier. Lately Laurent has just felt lost whenever he thinks about going back. Before the idea of Damen repulsed him but now, honestly, he’s rather live near Damen who he knows how to judge the mood of, over Adrastus who can snap at anytime. Over an hour of pacing, reading the tiny shampoo bottles, unfolding and refolding towels before the door opens to a half-dressed Berenger. His shirt hang open and his tie just draped over his neck. 

“Safe to come out now?” Laurent asks.

“Pallas is covered up.” Berenger laughs when they walk out to Pallas attempting to tie the ribbons at the back of his shirt. “Come here let me help.”

“I know how to do it.” Pallas protests but lets Berenger help anyway. His hair's a mess and half of the jewelry that had been on his body now either sits on the side table or on the floor. After his shirt is back on straight and he slips the rope on, he walks around the room gathering the different pieces of jewelry discarded throughout the room. 

“Before you go,” Berenger pulls Pallas in close and reaches inside his robe but pulls back irritated. “Where is it?”

“Check Laurent’s pocket,” Laurent hears Pallas whisper. He’s almost taken back by it because he didn’t even know there was anything in his pocket, but at this point these people don’t really surprise him anymore. Berenger makes his way over to Laurent and takes a few awkward and unknowing steps forward like he didn’t just fuck Pallas for the past hour. 

“I’m not going to bite.” Laurent mumbles and he finally relaxes, shuffling in close like he did to Pallas and reaching in to his inside pocket to grab whatever it is he wants. His breath smells of champagne and his skin sweet of the cologne he wears but Laurent still hates his touch. His touch brings a feeling in his chest that tells him this man is not to be trusted, no matter how nice he pretends to be. He takes whatever it is out of Laurent’s pocket and puts something back in it in return. 

“Adrastus is outside waiting for you two,” Berenger says, walking back towards the bed. 

“I’ll see you this weekend?”

“Probably not, I’m flying to Patras tomorrow. I’m sorry.” Pallas nods and slips the blindfold back over Laurent’s eyes before pulling him outside. 

“You seemed to enjoy yourself tonight.” Laurent lets slip out after they get a few steps outside. 

“And?” Pallas snaps.

“And nothing, I was just saying.”

“It’s my only chance to be with a man who treats me nice and makes me feel good, I like to enjoy myself.”

“I wasn’t saying it was a bad thing.” Laurent defends. “I’m glad you have someone who treats you like that, you deserve it.”

“For once I guess,” Pallas mumbles.

“You should try and get him to help you get away from Adrastus. This is no way to live.” 

“That’s not how it works.”

“You need to try.” Pallas suddenly stops and rips Laurent’s blindfold off.

“Laurent don’t you get it yet? This is our life. This is what we were sold into and this is what we get to live with until inevitably we get killed, there’s no ‘getting out’ of this. I’m just another slut for Berenger to play with every once in a while, he doesn’t _really_ care for me. If he did I’d see him more than a few times a month, and he’d say something about the bruises he’s seen on me. We’re fun to play with for a while but easy to cast aside when they’re done.” Pallas shouts. “This is how we die. One way or another, either Adrastus kills us or one of these men.”

“I’ll talk to Damen.” Pallas sighs and puts the blindfold back on Laurent. 

“He won’t do anything, you know nothing about this business.” They are silent the rest of the way back down to the car and back home. Pallas is irritated with Laurent so he doesn’t sit in the back seat like it did on the way there. When they get home he doesn’t wait for him to get out and Adrastus has to help him find his way inside. 

“You three need to make breakfast.” Adrastus says to the nervous Isander standing in the doorway. Adrastus walks off down the hall leaving the boys to do the work. 

“Of fucking course.” Pallas mumbles. Pallas takes charge cooking, shoving Laurent out of the way any chance he gets just because he doesn’t want to talk about what happened last night. 

“Look Pallas I’m sorry, I get it now. I don’t understand what it’s like here.” Pallas nods but stays quiet. He’s not given the chance to respond because suddenly down the hall is a loud crash that comes repeatedly. The boys rush down the hall together to find Adrastus in their room. 

“You’re hiding food in your room like little rats.” Adrastus has all four beds flipped over when they walk back in. When no one responds to him Adrastus shoves one of the bedframes to the side. “Answer me you little motherfuckers!”

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Isander pleads.

“Why the hell would you do this?”

“It’s just a few granola bars leave them alone.” Laurent tries to defend them but Adrastus scoffs and shoves him off to the side down to his knees. 

“You two don’t get to hide stuff from me. I trusted you not to do this shit.”

“We won’t ever again, we swear,” Pallas says.

“Where the fuck is my money anyway? I let you get away with a lot last night. Nice hotel, fancy desserts? You’re supposed to bring him what he wants and fuck him, he’s not paying extra to have some fucking dinner date with you.” Pallas quickly drops to his knees and rips a handful of money out of Laurent’s pocket. 

“How did you-“

“You don’t get to ask the questions here, listen to me, Berenger doesn’t care about you don’t get your goddamn hopes up.” 

“Why do you destroy everything?” Pallas yells. Adrastus raises a hand to slap him but Isander jumps in the way so he stops himself halfway in anger.

“Fine, we’ll talk about this later.” Adrastus spits, turning his attention to Laurent. "It’s time to decide, stay here or back to Damen?" 

Laurent glances at Pallas who stands with angry tears streaming down his face and Isander who stands trembling protectively in front of him and feels horrible for abandoning them but he can't do this anymore.

"Take me back, please, take me to Damen."


	9. Chapter 9

"Hurry up, I have other stuff to do today." Adrastus says as he drags Laurent back inside Damen's house. They walk in all the way to the kitchen before Adrastus lets go and Laurent falls to the floor on his knees. Laurent only knows they are in the kitchen because when he falls his leg bumps into the table next to him. "You were right, his attitude was a problem. I have other stuff to do, he wanted to come back and I don't want him anymore."

There's some moving around and the door slams shut making Laurent jump. Slowly the blindfold is pulled off of Laurent's eyes to Damen standing in front of him. A pair of loose fitted sweatpants and a black t-shirt stand in front of him so casually it's such a different feeling from Adrastus’. 

"Hello, sweetheart." Damen kneels down in front of a trembling Laurent at his feet, "What did you think?"

"Don't make me go back there," Damen tilts Laurent's chin up to look at him. "I'll behave, please don't make me go back."

“See? I could be so much worse to you, and yet I don’t. You have freedom to roam the house as you please when I’m here. No working for me, no punishments for your bratty attitude. All I ask is for you to listen to me when I have something to say." Laurent gives a small nod and Damen helps him to his feet. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes," Laurent hadn’t realized how bad his stomach ached. Adrastus let them eat, but Laurent was still underweight and needed a lot more than what he was getting. 

"Go get cleaned up, you look like hell." Damen escorts Laurent down the hall, keeping his hands off but hovering close by. "Nice outfit by the way."

“Don’t, I hate it and I don’t even know how to get these stupid jewels out of my hair.” 

“Sit down, let me help.” Damen cautiously kneels down on the ground and Laurent, surprisingly sits in front of him. If Damen had tried anywhere else, Laurent probably would have refused but on the floor he seemed so much less threatening and Laurent didn’t know what else to do. Damen starts slow with cautious touches to make sure not to shock Laurent too much before he really starts to try and get them out of his hair. For a man who murdered countless men and women, Damen has surprisingly gentle hands. His fingers carefully untwist the braids Pallas put into his hair and pulls out the string of jewels without touching too much. “These are nice braids, who did them?”

“Pallas,” Damen’s hand wanders down to Laurent’s shoulder and Laurent is on his feet in seconds. “Don’t.”

“I’m sorry, you should go take a shower, I’ll go make you something to eat.” Damen hurries out of the room before he can make a mistake again so Laurent can go shower.

As soon as Laurent looks at his clothes in the mirror he already misses Isander and Pallas. From the first day he arrived, Isander was already trying to make him feel welcomed despite the horrible situation. Pallas took a bit more time to warm up to Laurent but even he tried his best to make sure he was always friendly. Even if he misses them, he would never go back to that house. In the shower, the makeup is rinsed from Laurent's body exposing all of the bruises covering his face and chest. Some of them now beginning to fade away to shades barely noticeable but some still are deep blacks and purples. The warm water helps bring feeling back into his cold limbs but he is still cold down to his core so as soon as he gets out of the shower he is left trembling again. He dresses quickly in sweatpants and Damen's shirt, clothes that previously irritated him but now bring him nothing but comfort. Laurent never thought he'd ask to go back to live with Damen but here he is doing his best to please him. When Laurent walks out of the bathroom Damen stops dead in his tracks when he sees Laurent's face.

"What the hell happen to you?" Damen shouts and rushes forward, only to make Laurent back away. The longer Damen looks the more bruises he notices down Laurent's neck and over his arms, he can't see the ones covering his chest and it's probably a good thing he can't.

"I wasn’t doing anything wrong."

"Did Adrastus do this to you?" Damen tries to take another step forward but Laurent stands defenseless at the back wall of the bathroom now.

"He beat me and locked me in a bathroom for three days without food the first night I was there because I didn’t want to work for him again. All I did was walk around the house, I wasn’t even trying to run. It was so cold, I just wanted to die."

"He wasn't supposed to touch you or make you work. I'll kill him I swear I'll fucking-"

"No!" Laurent shouts, cutting Damen off. "No more killing, please, Damen. What will happen to Pallas and Isander?"

"Alright, just calm down I'm not going to do anything. Come out here and eat." Laurent slowly creeps out of the bathroom, never letting his back face Damen, and walks over to the table with him. As soon as he sits down in front of the food he swallows it down as if he's afraid Damen might take it away. "Laurent, breathe. You're alright, I won't ever do that again I'm so sorry this happened."

"What the fuck did you expect to happen sending me to live with them? They are drug mules, everything that happened there was fucking destined to happen."

"I told him not to do anything to you. He was just supposed to take you there and let you see how they are living, you weren't supposed to participate."

"He let those men put their hands on me, that's on you. He would have let them fuck me if he thought he could get away with that." Damen visibly shudders at the idea of someone hurting Laurent like that. When he notices how hard Laurent is shivering he hurries to get a sweater for him to wear. As Damen approaches with the sweater, Laurent's defensiveness kicks in and he quickly stands and swings the fork at his arm.

"Woah, easy, it's alright. You're cold, I just want to help." Laurent slowly lowers his arm and allows Damen to help him into the sweater. Even as he starts eating again Laurent keeps a close eye on Damen to make sure he doesn’t try and do anything else. Damen stays silent and just watches Laurent in silence until he finishes eating. "Do they hurt?"

“The bruises? Not so much anymore, my ribs still hurt a little. And I have a concussion so my head hurts on and off.” 

“Wait, what?”

“One of the men who Adrastus sells to was tired of my attitude.” Laurent shrugs.

“Laurent, what happened? Who the fuck laid their god damn hands on you?" Damen says through clenched teeth. "I'll kick in his fucking skull."

“He buys from Adrastus a lot, his name is Govart. I guess he kicked me in the head the last time we saw him, I don’t really remember Isander had to tell me. He hurt my friends or I wouldn’t bother telling you his name.” Govart deserves punishment for what he did to Isander and Pallas, so does Adrastus but they have to live with him. 

“You know how sorry I am for all of this right? I never meant for you to get hurt, that was the point of sending you away. I was afraid I would do something stupid and hurt you. I thought you’d be safer with him.” Damen reaches a hand out across the table towards Laurent but Laurent just pulls back. “I love you so much, I didn’t mean to do this to you.”

“I want you to get Pallas and Isander out of there,” Laurent says. 

“I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

“It’s none of my business what happens there and Adrastus is one of the reasons we are here. I need him, if I take those boys from him then he’s calling the police on me immediately.” 

“You need to do something, he beats them. He lets men hurt them regularly, please don’t let them die there.”

“They won’t die there. But if you’re really worried about them I promise to talk to him about treating them better.”

“Thank you.” Laurent sighs. This has all been so stressful he can hopefully finally relax here. 

“You look tired,” Damen says.

“Yeah, I didn’t sleep much last night. We were out last night.” Damen’s eyes drop down to the table when he can’t make eye contact anymore. 

“What did he make you do?” His voice is soft and terrified to hear the answer. 

“I just went with Pallas and sat in a hotel room. He didn’t care about me thankfully I think the guy looked at me like twice, it was just a long night.”

“You should get some rest then.” Damen takes his empty plate and leaves him alone to take a nap on his own. The bed at Adrastus’ wasn’t uncomfortable but the one here makes Laurent’s eyes instantly feel heavy. It only takes a few moments for the sleep to overtake him. He sleeps deeply for hours, so deep that Damen walks in and sits down on the edge of the bed and Laurent doesn’t even flinch like normal. Damen debates waking him to feed him lunch but decides he probably needs sleep more than he needs food right now. 

When Laurent wakes up later he’s delirious as to where he is at first. He jumps awake and flips around searching to make sure he’s alone in the room before calming back down. But without a sense of time in the room he soon finds himself hurrying out of bed to the cracked door. Laurent creeps out into the rest of the house still on edge from everything Adrastus put him through. Damen keeps the house fairly clean compared to how his motel used to be. The bedroom stays clean, the dishes are done, there’s never really much to take care of. He walks all the way down the hall and finds Damen folding laundry.

“Hey you,” Damen smiles when Laurent leans against the wall near him. 

“What time is it?”

“A little after eight, I didn’t know if I should wake you up. I felt bad not making you eat but I thought you could use the sleep, I can cook dinner in a few minutes once I’m done with this.” Damen accidentally drops a shirt and Laurent unconsciously walks forward to go pick it. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to cook for me, I can make myself something.”

“It’s alright, I can do it. I won’t make you do anything around the house.” 

“I can help out with stuff.”

“I don’t want you to have to worry about any of it. I want your body to heal before you start doing anything.”  
*  
"Hey Laurent, wake up." Laurent jumps awake in fear but calms down when he sees Damen looking very non-threatening sitting next to him. It had been a week since Laurent had come home from Adrastus’ house but he was still pretty jump when it came to sleeping. "I know you had a bad week last week so you can go back to sleep if you want but there are a few people coming over, so the door will be unlocked if you want to join."

"Is Adrastus coming?" Damen nods. "Then no. I don’t want to see that asshole again."

"Nik needs to talk to him I can’t do anything about it. Isander and Pallas will be here too, I heard you made good friends with them so I thought you might want to see them. You don't have to come out if you don't want to I just thought I'd offer."

Laurent nods but stays curled up in the bed sheets where he feels safe and comfortable. The thought of leaving the room is actually horrifying to Laurent. Before he dreaded the thought of being trapped in here but right now he’d rather stay in here than go anywhere near Adrastus or any of Damen’s other friends. Before anyone gets to the house Damen brings in an assortment of different snacks so that Laurent isn’t forced to leave the room if he chooses not to. Even though he really does want Laurent to come out, he tries his best to be as accommodating as possible because of everything he’s been through. 

“If you get high or some shit with them, sleep on the couch I don’t want to deal with that ever again.”

“I’m still sober, you don’t have to worry about me. If they get to be too much I’ll kick them out. I have to go, you can come out any time you feel like it.” Damen walks out and Laurent listens to the sound of rowdy men arriving at the house. They’re irritatingly loud for Laurent’s taste and none of them are nice enough for him to look past that and just tolerate them. Everyone Damen has over here is either rude to Laurent or just irritate him. But the longer Laurent sits and thinks about Isander and Pallas coming the more he prepares himself to leave the safety of the bedroom. He gives the men a half an hour to settle down and stop talking so loudly before he finally gets himself out of bed. Slowly Laurent creeps out of the room as quietly as he possibly can. This isn't Laurent's favorite idea but he wants to apologize to Isander and Pallas for leaving them and for everything that they have to deal with.

"Laurent!" Isander says from the kitchen as soon as he sees Laurent coming down the hall. He stands with four bottle bottles of beer in front of him, struggling to open them.

"Do you need help?"

"No, it's alright. Adrastus told me it was my job to bring everyone drinks. It's not your job, thank you though." Laurent stands and watches for another moment as Isander struggles with one of the bottles. After a while Laurent gives up waiting and opens the other three bottles and holds out a hand for the fourth. "Thank you, you're very kind."

"It's not a problem. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry for leaving you alone there. I just can't do it."

"It's okay, that's not your home, this is. You belong here." Laurent follows along behind as Isander carefully carries out the bottles and hands them out to Adrastus, Nik, Lazar, and another man Laurent doesn’t know. Damen sits with a bottle of water already in hand.

"Took you long enough," Nik says, snatching the bottle from Isander.

"Hey! If you want a drink faster get up and get it yourself, if not shut up and thank him." Laurent snaps. Damen stares at Laurent in shock but he doesn't say anything bad about what he said.

"Thank you for the drink," Nik says reluctantly. Isander blushes and nods before hurrying out of the way of the men who had not slowed their conversations. Laurent made it all the way to the doorway of the living room if he walked away now after yelling at Nik they might find it weird. Plus, Laurent wants to be close by in case someone decides to say something rude to Isander again, he doesn't deserve the abuse. On one of the couches sits Damen and Nik. Across from them on the other is the mystery man, Lazar, and Pallas sitting extremely close to Lazar but not necessarily uncomfortable with it. In the chair facing out towards the doorway Laurent stands in is Adrastus, with bruises covering his face. The only available seats left are either one in between Damen and Nik or one between the arm of the couch and Damen if Laurent forces himself in the seat. When Laurent walks in the room and willingly sits next to Damen, close enough for their thighs to touch, even Nik's conversation stalls momentarily.

"I'm glad you decided to join us." Damen says quietly. "Do you want something to drink? We have beer if you want one."

"I'm surprised I'd be allowed to drink if you can’t."

"I don’t care. Do you want something?" Laurent nods and moves to stand up. "Isander, get Laurent a beer."

"Y...Yes, sir." Isander stutters in fear of Damen.

"No, it's fine I can get one myself don’t make him do everything for you guys." Isander rushes off to the kitchen but Laurent follows along close behind.

"No, please Laurent, Damen asked me to bring you a drink. I don't want him to be upset."

"Damen? Who gives a shit what he thinks. He won't yell at you or anything if I'm here." Laurent walks back out and falls back into his seat next to Damen, who had shifted over slightly to give Laurent more room to sit. Laurent's body still trembles from the cold even in the sweater. Unconsciously Laurent curls back into the couch and leans his body into Damen, the giant source of heat sitting next to him. 

“So, that’s Huet, you remember the man I threw the lamp at right?” Damen asks quietly. Damen’s arm stays thrown over the back of the couch behind Laurent, the other sits in his lap showing off his bruised knuckles.

“Don’t break anything else for him.” Damen chuckles and nods. “What happened to Adrastus’ face?”

“You didn’t expect me to let it go, did you? He hurt you.”

“You should have just left it alone.”

“I should have killed him for touching you, and don’t think I didn’t try. But Nik needs him alive so I wasn’t given much of a choice.” Damen leans his head in close to Laurent’s ear so only he can hear. The conversation feels intimate with the way Damen speaks to him but the word he says are frightening to think about. Damen killing someone will make him spiral right back into old habits and Laurent will be dead before he knows what’s happening. “I swear I won’t let anyone lay a hand on you again.” 

“I told you to leave it alone, you’re going to cause problems for Isander and Pallas.” Nik stares over at the two for a long while ignoring the conversation he was having with Lazar. “Can I help you?”

"Fuck it. Can I smoke in here? You’re fine with it right Damen?" Everyone else agrees and Damen hesitantly nods. His eyes stay locked on the joint as Nik pulls it out and lights it. They pass a joint all the way around the room letting everyone taking a hit, including Pallas and Isander, but as Nik leans past Damen and Laurent to hand it back to Huet, Laurent snatches it away and takes a hit.

"Laurent, what are you doing?" Damen asks softly.

"I think it's pretty obvious what he’s doing." Nik jokes, chuckling and taking it back. Within a few minutes, Laurent begins feeling the effects of the weed. His body is not used to feeling like this so everything feel new and makes him extremely nervous.

"You alright?" Damen asks. Laurent jumps and slides slightly away from Damen.

"I'm fine, don't touch me." Laurent mumbles. Damen tries to make sure Laurent is okay but Laurent refuses to let him do much of anything so he quickly gives up on it. Laurent instead directs his attention to Pallas who now practically sits in Lazar's lap. Lazar’s arm is wrapped around Pallas’ waist keeping him where he is. Whispers and laughs are exchanged between the two only making Pallas move in closer. It’s hard to tell what the intentions behind either of the men are here. Lazar is obviously a drug dealer and works around people who do bad things, although Laurent has no way to prove he also does these bad things, it is pretty likely that he does. Pallas is used to being around men like him so this could all be an act he put on the moment Lazar showed interest in him. 

“Lazar, I know we’re friends but you still have to pay if you want to fuck him.” Pallas’ smile fades and he stops laughing right away. When Lazar pulls at his hip again Pallas only moves where he wants because he’s used to getting yelled at if he doesn’t. “Damen might let you borrow his room.”

“No.” Damen spits out without even looking at them.

“I’m not using him, can’t he make his own choice for once?” Lazar asks, making Pallas’ cheeks blush bright red. “What do you think Pallas? Am I overstepping here? Do you just want my money?”

“I don’t want your money,” Pallas’ eyes dart between Lazar and Adrastus like he’s nervous after what he just said out loud. 

“He’s a very busy person, he doesn’t have time for a dating life.”

“What about right now?”

“Fine, if Pallas wants to see you in his free time then he’s welcome to I guess.” Adrastus mutters. Pallas’ face lights up at the thought of spending more time with Lazar. Laurent doesn’t know if these two have ever met before but they are already very attached. “Isander, get me another beer.”

“I need more than just a beer.” Lazar mumbles.

"I have whiskey back home if you wanted it." Nik says. Someone agrees and he is sent off to go get it. It doesn't take him more than five minutes to leave and come back, telling Laurent how close he lives. "Who wants some?"

"Did you want a glass, Laurent?" Damen asks quietly.

"Yeah,"

"Can I get him drunk?" Lazar asks, pointing down to Pallas.

"If you want." Adrastus keeps a close eye on both of the boys but they seem more relaxed when around other people because they know he can't do anything to hurt them. 

“You want to see me drunk?” Pallas asks. He laughs and gets up to go help Isander get glasses from the kitchen. When he comes back he falls half in the lap of Lazar. 

Laurent, however, just takes his glass and sips his drink without really looking at anyone. Whiskey isn’t something Laurent likes at all but he’s had a horrible past few weeks so he’ll drink anything to numb the thoughts at this point. Everytime his glass is empty Nik refills it, until Damen is glaring at him for how much he’s letting Laurent drink. The more Laurent drinks, the more he relaxes and wobbles either into the arm of the couch or into Damen's side. Damen knows what Laurent feels like so he keeps his arms where they are and lets him do whatever he wants to. The men all joke around together but both Damen and Laurent mostly stay quiet. 

A conversation starts up between Nik and Adrastus and Damen soon gets dragged in. Laurent is so focused on trying to keep the room from spinning at this point he doesn’t listen to a word they say to each other. He hears their laughter, and feels the rumbling in Damen’s chest next to him but he has no idea what its about. After a while Laurent gets so sleepy and tipsy he just leans over the arm of the couch and listens to everyone talk. He would get up and walk himself to bed but he’s not going to make a fool out of himself when he can’t even stand up straight. Damen glances over and sees him lying on the arm of the couch and he stands up. 

“Alright, time for you guys to go.” Damen says. Nik nods and walks over to grab Huet off the couch. As soon as he lifts Huet up Lazar falls over with Pallas still in his lap. Adrastus stands up and walks off towards the door. Isander gets up and rushes to Pallas but he just lays on top of Lazar’s chest.

"We need to go, come on," Isander helps Pallas up out of Lazar's lap even as Lazar tries to hold him down. “Please, Pallas, Adrastus is going to be upset.”

"No, he's mine. Pallas, don't go." Lazar whines. 

“Laz, he has to go. Are you sleeping on the couch or at Nik’s?” Damen shoves Lazar back into the couch when he tries to drunkenly follow Pallas to the front door. “Your ride’s already gone, I’m going to bed.”

“Here.” Lazar pouts and turns over on his side to face the back of the couch. Damen walks to the bedroom and brings back a blanket that he sort of just tosses on top of him. 

"Alright kid, time for bed." Damen helps lift Laurent up under his arm and drags him down the hall.

"No, I'm fine let go." But instead of letting go Damen just leads Laurent into the bathroom when Laurent pulls towards it. He's immediately on his knees throwing up into the toilet. Damen sighs and kneels down next to him, pulling his hair back out of the way.

"I told you to slow down," He sits with Laurent until he finally feels good enough for Damen to carry him back to bed. Damen seems so happy that Laurent doesn't fight the help this time. When Damen pulls out a change in clothes for Laurent, he shakes his head and it takes some convincing before Laurent eventually stands and puts on clothes for bed. He gets Laurent comfortable and tucked in to bed and then leaves the room. He comes back with a glass of water for Laurent to drink but he refuses it and stays curled up in bed. "Drink some water, Laurent. You're going to pay for this in the morning."

"Why do you care?" Laurent whines as Damen helps him sit up and take a few sips of water. Damen forces him to drink about half of the glass before he lets Laurent lay back down.

"Get some sleep," Damen changes into clothes more appropriate for bed and cautiously slides into bed to not disturb Laurent. Even though he is drunk Laurent is not sleepy just yet and slides his body over to curl up against Damen's side. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Warm." Is all Laurent mumbles.

"You're not going to like this when you wake up in the morning." Damen refuses to let his hands go anywhere near Laurent, knowing very well how he's going to feel in the morning if he remembers doing any of this. "Do you want me to find you another blanket? You're really not going to be happy in the morning."

"Don't you like it when I touch you?"

"Of course I do, but I prefer it if you were sober enough to actually want to. You won't later on."

"Who cares anymore. If you're going to kill me then you'll kill me. It's going to come at some point so why shouldn't I try to enjoy myself a little until then?" Laurent turns over to lay on his stomach with one hand on Damen's chest and his face pressed into his side.

"I'm not going to kill you." Damen sighs and kisses the top of Laurent's head. He really doesn't plan on hurting Laurent. Thinking about what he forced Laurent to go through with Adrastus makes him sick, how could he ever hurt Laurent again?

"We'll see." Laurent murmurs half asleep. “Pallas told me something the other day that made me realize something.”

“What was that?”

“This is how I die, either you’re going to kill me or one of your friends, or maybe even I’ll do it. Anyway, this is how I die I won’t get out of here so if I can enjoy myself every once in a while then why shouldn’t I?”

“Laurent, don’t talk like that.”

“Stop, it’s true. I’m very drunk it’s not a good idea to argue with me.”

"Are you sure you're alright with this?"

"I'm not even doing anything I just want to stay warm." Laurent shivers again and pulls himself closer. "Besides, Pallas and Lazar were doing so much worse tonight."

"That's because Lazar wants to fuck him."

"Hm, true. Don't let Lazar buy him if he's going to abuse him."

"Lazar doesn't pay for sex and he wouldn't hurt him." Laurent trembles again and pulls the blankets up even higher. "Are you really that cold?"

"Come closer." Damen sighs and flips over on his stomach, draping his arm over Laurent's chest. Laurent laughs and nuzzles his face into Damen's shoulder.

"Is that any better?"

"Much,"

"Now go to bed."


	10. Chapter 10

_6:47  
Laurent is running late. His alarm never went off so now he’s rushing to get ready. He needs to be at the office in thirteen minutes and he’s not ready to go yet. His suit his thrown on quickly and his stuff together in his bag as he rushes out of the bedroom door. But as soon as he spots his blonde hair in the living room he freezes. He drops his bag at his feet and stares at the back of his head in the chair. Blonde fresh hair in his white button up shirts for work. Steps feel fake, like his legs aren’t even moving, as he walks out to go sit out on the couch in his living room. Auguste smiles at Laurent as soon as he sees him but doesn't say a word. _

_“This isn’t real.” Laurent manages. Auguste smiles and looks down. Blood seeps out from his shirt and soaks his chest. Red against white makes Laurent’s heart stop._

_“We don’t have much time,” Auguste frowns and looks back up at Laurent._

_“What’s happening?”_

_“I need you to listen to me. Do what you need to do to stay safe, let go of all that anger.”_

_“What? No, you know what he did I can’t.” Auguste words make Laurent angry just like everything Damen is doing still. He feels himself starting to get heating when talking to Auguste so he tries to settle down. This isn’t real, but this is the closest he is ever going to get to talking to him ever again._

_“Just let it go, that’s what’s best for you.”_

_“But he killed you. He tried to kill me. And now he just sent me to go live with people who wanted to fuck me and who beat me every day, how am I supposed to just let it go?”_

_“It's just a game, he’s playing games with you and you need to figure out how to play too.”_

_“I don’t want to play his games I want out. I want to go home I want you back. He killed you!” The blood from his shirt drips off of him and lands in a puddle on the white leather of the chair next to him. All of the red seems so much brighter against all of the white, not that there’s much white left of his shirt anymore._

_“You just need to forgive him.”_

_“I can’t forgive him, I can’t forget what happened.” Laurent reaches down to grab at the necklace around his neck but he realizes it’s hanging around Auguste’s neck where it belongs. Blood suddenly pours from a wound slowly growing wider and wider in Auguste’s neck. Laurent recoils, momentarily horrified and forgetting that none of this is actually causing harm to his brother. When he calms down, Laurent reaches for a blanket on the back of the couch to help stop the bleeding but Auguste motions for him to stay put. When he thinks about ignoring the instructions he looks down to see the blanket gone from where it once was in his hands._

_“I’m not asking you to forget, I’m asking you to forgive there’s a difference. Don’t forget what he did but be the bigger person. You’re going to get out of here, you just have to wait. I know you, you’ll find a way someday but it might take some time. Make your life easier, being so unhappy all the time sucks. Forgive him for yourself, not for him.”_

_“I can’t,” Laurent whimpers. Blood runs out of Auguste’s mouth and stains his teeth a deep shade of red on the way. All of his words come out gurgled as blood fills his throat, but he doesn’t seem to be in any type of destress._

_“This isn’t about me anymore, I’m dead you can’t think about me. You need to do what’s best for yourself right now. If forgiving him is what’s best then you need to do it.” There's a pause in his voice as his face falls pale. Suddenly he leans forward and spits up a huge chunk of blood. “We’re out of time.”_

_“I’m not ready to lose you again.” He looks back up at Laurent and wipes his face as clear from the blood as he can with already blood-soaked sleeves._

_“You’re not losing me again, this is just our chance to say goodbye.” Auguste’s eyes droop closed and his head falls forward._

_“Auguste? Auguste! No, please, not yet I wasn’t ready please.” Laurent launches himself forward to push Auguste’s head back. His eyes stay shut and blood still oozes from the cut in his neck. Laurent himself is now drenched in blood from Auguste’s wounds. “I’ll forgive him, I’ll play the game I promise. Whatever you want me to do I will.”_

Laurent wakes up curled up into Damen's side with a pounding headache. From the anxiety of the dream, Laurent’s fingers dig into the fabric on the back of Damen’s shirt. He tries to slide back away from Damen but his hand keeps Laurent from moving very far. Damen lay on his stomach with one arm draped over Laurent's body, squeezing him tight. Their legs lay pressed together so Laurent can feel the hair on his scratch against his skin every time he moves. The weight of Damen’s body on his chest doesn’t bother him as much as he thought it might. As Laurent tries to wiggle away the cold air of the bedroom sends him curling back into Damen's side once again. If he gets up now he's going to have to face the cold and it's going to make him feel even worse than he already does. Staying here, curled up with Damen is a much better plan even if he doesn't like it. His dream still haunts his thoughts but maybe this is what Auguste meant by playing the game. This is what he wants, so this is what Laurent should give him. 

Damen shifts around in his sleep, squeezing tighter around Laurent's body. When Damen's eyes flutter open he glances down at a sleepy, content Laurent in confusion. Laurent sees that Damen is awake now but he chooses to curl back into the warmth of Damen's side. 

"You were cold last night," Damen mutters.

"I remember, I'm still cold now don't move," Laurent mumbles into Damen's shoulder.

"How are you feeling?"

"Hungover." Laurent gasps when Damen shifts around exposing him to the cold momentarily. He pulls the blankets back up around them, as they had fallen down, and settles back in so he can keep Laurent even warmer.

"Sorry, just trying to warm you up better."

"Thank you." They lay like this for a long time with Laurent clinging to the front of Damen's shirt.

"I'm happy to warm you up, but what changed?"

"I've given up being angry all the time," Laurent says, wiggling around until Damen pulls back far enough for Laurent to see his face but still keep him warm. "Isander goes through so much horrible shit with Adrastus but he is still happy and grateful for everything. I don’t know if I can forgive you for killing my brother or for everything you’ve done to me, but I can put it behind me and stop living so angry all the time. I know I'm not leaving here any time soon."

"Do you know how happy it makes me hearing you say that?" Damen brushes a hair out of Laurent's face and leans in close for a kiss, so Laurent turns his head away to avoid it. He may have to play into his game but this is one thing he isn’t ready for just yet. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m not ready for that.” Damen nods and lays back down to hug Laurent to his chest. 

“While I absolutely love keeping you warm, I should go kick Lazar out.”

“Have fun,” Laurent mumbles when Damen climbs out of bed leaving Laurent freezing alone in bed. 

“You can do whatever you want but if you want you can come with. If you want to stay in bed you can though.” Damen says as he heads towards the door.

“It’s cold out there.” Laurent pulls the blanket up around himself to avoid the cold with the loss of Damen’s body heat. Damen stops in his tracks and grabs a sweater out of the dresser for Laurent. When he tosses it to him Laurent sighs and crawls out from under the blankets. It’s irritating to face the cold but Damen knows he’d rather leave the bedroom than sit in bed all day. Laurent trails along behind Damen as they make their way out to the living room. Lazar is still passed out on one of the couches and Nik sits on the chair. 

“Laz, come on get up, time to go.” Damen kicks the side of the couch and Lazar groans. “I’ll make some coffee sit up and drink a cup before you go.”

Nik watches Damen with a smirk on his face but as soon as he sees Laurent in the doorway he rolls his eyes. To avoid any confrontation between the two, Damen turns Laurent around and guides him back into the kitchen.

“Why is Nik here? Didn’t he go home last night?” Damen walks around Laurent and starts a pot of coffee for Lazar before he stops to talk. He doesn’t really seem to want to talk about the fact Nik is constantly an ass to Laurent anytime he sees him for no reason at all and Damen does nothing to fix it.

“He came to hang out, just let him be I know he’s being rude I’m sorry.” 

“Couldn’t you have picked someone better to live next to?” Damen just rolls his eye and ignores the comment. 

“You want some coffee?” Laurent nods and takes a cup that Damen pours for him without even thinking about it. As soon as he tastes it the memories of that day flood back. Jord walking in the office that day with tears in his eyes, knowing exactly what was coming before he was even told. Seconds after he takes the first sip of coffee Laurent turns to the sink and immediately throws up. Akielon coffee reminds him too much of his brother’s death to keep it down. “Woah, okay maybe not. Let’s get you some water. Is the hangover that bad?”

“I can’t drink Akielon coffee anymore.” Damen forces Laurent to drink some water and stands ready just in case he gets sick again. 

“Okay, I’m sorry, I didn’t know. If I knew it would make you sick I wouldn’t have given it to you.” Damen hushes him as Laurent’s fingers dig into the side of the sink to calm the wave of nausea. Tears sting in his eyes in anger because he has to live with these feelings every day. The memories of his brother’s death that still haunt his mind with just a taste of something. Forgiving Damen for what he’s done was hard enough but when things keep bringing up the memories of Auguste it makes it even harder to put the memories out of his mind long enough to be able to accept this. Laurent blinks the tears away before they can fall so Damen can’t see him upset as he stands back up straight. “You alright? Maybe you should go lay back down.”

“No. I’m fine.” Laurent snaps too fast. Damen holds out a hand to motion Laurent to calm down so he takes a deep breath. “I just mean, I don’t want to go back in there by myself again. I feel alright now, it’s not the hangover it was the coffee.”

“Alright, I understand.” Damen pours a mug for himself and one for Lazar and motions for Laurent to follow again. “Here, drink this and go home.” 

Damen says handing Lazar the mug. Lazar leans forward resting against his knees and sips his coffee as Damen and Laurent make their way in to sit down on the empty couch. 

“Shouldn’t have had so much to drink.” Nik jokes. 

“You were pouring drinks!” Lazar yells. “Oh, Pallas is probably so sick the poor thing.”

“Pallas? He’s fine.” Damen snort.

“How would you know?”

“Nik poured him half the amount of drinks he poured you and Pallas was pouring half of his in your glass when you weren’t looking.” Nik burst out laughing at Lazar’s face of confusion, betrayal, and amusement. He has no idea how to react to this knowledge but it is pretty amusing to find out. 

“What about you Laurent? How are you feeling? We heard you in the kitchen a minute ago, you were keeping up pretty well last night.”

“Yeah, I overdid it a little bit.” They don’t need to know that getting sick from the coffee was completely unrelated to being hungover. Even Damen doesn’t really know the whole story behind Laurent’s hatred for Akielon coffee so these two strangers don’t need to either. 

“Finish your coffee and go,” Damen says to Lazar. The one time Laurent actually interacts with one of Damen’s friends he’s an asshole to him and kicks him out right away. Laurent takes a deep breath and tries to remind himself what Auguste told him to do. 

“I need some water,” Laurent says, standing up and walking off to the kitchen alone. He gets himself a glass of water and just stays in the kitchen away from Damen for a minute. Even if things aren’t as bad with him it’s still nice to just feel independent for once. 

“Hey Laurent,” Lazar asks quietly, as he also walks in the kitchen. He sets his empty mug in the sink and stands a comfortable distance away from Laurent. “What do you think about Pallas?”

“What do you mean?”

“Last night, was he just fucking with me or do you think he actually would like to see me again? I don’t want to pay to fuck him, I feel like I’m using him and that’s not what I want.”

“He just wants someone to be nice to him, if he’s not just getting fucked for money then yeah he’d probably like that.” Lazar nods and leaves the kitchen without another word. Laurent watches as he makes his way to the front door and heads out still a mess from last night. 

When Laurent eventually gives in and makes his way back out, Damen is just picking up his phone. He steps out of the room and to talk on the phone privately so Laurent only catches a few glimpses of words. 

“No! Don’t touch him. Do not hurt him. I don’t care what he did just leave him alone.” Damen sighs and slams his fist on the counter. “Fuck, I don’t know! Just bring him back here.”

Damen hangs up the phone and kicks the side of the cabinet before he comes back out. A few curse words slip from his mouth as he quickly takes his anger out on inanimate objects by himself before he tries talking to anyone. He shakes his head at Nik and falls back on the couch next to Laurent. 

“What happened?” Nik asks.

“Nicaise threatened to call the police on them and they wanted to kill him.” Nicaise sounds so familiar to Laurent but he can’t figure out from where. It takes a minute before he remembers that he was the boy that lived next door to Damen at his apartment. He was the kid that tried to break into the house just to borrow a book. 

“So you’re having him brought here instead?”

“Right now is not the time to pick a fight about it.” Damen rubs his temples and leans back on the couch. 

“I’m not trying to pick a fight, I think its a bad idea but we have other things to talk about here.”

“You always have shit to talk about,”

“Because we always have shit to talk about, come on you didn’t even drink last night you don’t get to act like this.”

In a moment of pure exhaustion from the hangover, Laurent decides to try something new and lays his head in Damen's lap with his legs stretched out next to him. Damen pauses his conversation momentarily in shock but as Laurent settles in. His hands fumble around to find the proper place to sit but he settles with one arm thrown over the back of the couch and the other sitting at his side right next to his head. 

“You alright?” Damen’s finger’s curl around the fabric of his shorts not knowing what he’s supposed to do with his hands. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.” 

“It’s just his head in your lap, pay attention.” Nik snaps. “Lazar and Huet convinced some of your old buyers to trust us again so we’ll start making money for once. You need to be nice to them both.”

“I am nice to them when they aren’t doing something stupid.”

“That’s my point, I don’t give a shit if they do something stupid. Get over your giant fucking ego and be nice to them. They’re saving your ass right now.”

“You’re still selling?” Laurent asks. 

“It’s not like before.” Damen’s attention is taken away from Nik again who is instantly pissed off again. 

“Thought you said you weren’t a drug dealer anymore.”

“I wasn’t, but things change.”

“What do you mean it’s not like before?” 

“We aren’t crossing the border so it’s not as risky. I’m just helping dealers get what they want around here.” 

“You’re an addict, you can’t do this.”

“First of all, you don’t get to tell me what I can and can’t do. Second, have you seen anything in this house? I know I have a problem, there’s a reason we don’t keep it here.” Damen’s face contorts into anger and he shoves Laurent to sit up. 

“You don’t know how to keep yourself away from it.”

“Then what the fuck do you want me to do about it?” Laurent takes a deep breath and glances between the two men. 

“Can I help?”


	11. Chapter 11

When Laurent asked to help, Nik got very angry. He started screaming at Damen telling him Laurent could never be involved in this stuff. Laurent tried to fight back but Damen had to break it up before Nik did something stupid to him. It got so bad that Damen sent Laurent to the bedroom to go shower so he could calm Nik down without the situation getting worse. When Laurent comes out of the bathroom Damen is sitting on the bed waiting for him. 

"I didn't mean to start an argument," Laurent says. Damen nods and tries to wave Laurent closer. 

"I know, it's not your fault he's just irritable. He never used to be like this, he's just pissed at me. Maybe from now on it's best you stay out of conversations involving selling."

"I guess so." Laurent mumbles. He starts to step towards Damen but jumps when he hears voices in the house. "Who's here?"

"Huet and Adrastus."

"Why do they have to come over here so often?"

"It's payback for helping keep us hidden. They want to hang out with Nik but Nik doesn't want the mess in his house."

"Will Pallas and Isander be here at least?"

"No, they don't normally come around here, I'm sorry." Laurent sighs and nods, following Damen back out to the living room. Seeing Adrastus again makes both Laurent and Damen furious. When Nik sees Laurent again he doesn’t seem angry, he just seems upset about something. When Damen tries to say something to him he just shakes his head and steps across the room into a conversation with Adrastus so he doesn’t have to speak to him. 

“Good morning Damen,” Huet says, walking towards Damen and Laurent. 

“It’s early as shit, why are you drinking already?”

“Just because you’re sober doesn’t mean the rest of us have to be.” He laughs and takes a sip from his glass. He doesn’t seem drunk yet but it is way too early for him to be drinking like this. Laurent isn’t in the mood to be around someone drunk this early.

“How long are you guys going to be here?” 

“Not long,” Nik interrupts. “Ignore him, he’s just cranky because he hasn’t fucked anyone in forever.”

“Aw poor Damen, do you need a helping hand?” Huet walks forward and jokingly puts a hand on Damen’s lower stomach. Damen laughs and shoves him off.

“Fuck off.”

“I mean Laurent doesn’t seem to be any kind of help. Doesn’t that suck? I'd want to fuck the shit out of him if given the opportunity." Damen's face contorts from laughter to pure rage.

"Fuck you!" Damen punches Huet hard enough in the jaw for him to drop his glass and for it to explode glass shards across the room. Huet is hit four more times before he is pulled out of reaching distance of Damen and he is able to brace himself enough to fight back.

"Damen stop!" Nik snaps. Damen lunges away from everyone trying to hold him back and is immediately on top of him again. All these men are wearing shoes so it doesn't bother them to walk around on top of the broken glass, Laurent, however, is completely barefoot. In the excitement of the fight, Nik rushes forward to try and break them up and Laurent is shoved backward into one of the larger shards of glass, cutting a huge gash into the bottom of his foot.

"Shit," Laurent mumbles to himself. The commotion continues and no one seems to notice the pool of blood now growing under Laurent's foot. Laurent stumbles down the hall trying to avoid stepping harder on the piece of glass still imbedded in his foot or leave a blood trail behind him, the later of which he does not accomplish.

Laurent, who has been through many physically painful experiences in his life at this point, easily pulls out the shard of glass imbedded almost an inch into the bottom of his foot. However, the sight of the blood is somehow dizzying today and leaves him sitting on the floor staring at his foot as blood pours out onto the floor.

"Laurent?" Damen calls as he hurries into the bedroom, following the trail of blood. As soon as he sees Laurent on the floor of the bathroom he freezes in shock. "What the fuck."

"There's glass on the floor." Damen searches through a cabinet to find a handful of gauze to press into the gash. Laurent gasps in pain but clenches his teeth and deals with the pain.

"Yeah, I know there's glass. Why weren't you being careful?"

"You were fighting someone, I got pushed into it." Laurent winces slightly as Damen shifts his hand to get a better grip on Laurent's foot.

"That was a really big piece of glass. I think you're going to need stitches." Laurent leans back against the wall and holds his breath to not throw up at the thought of more stitches in his body. There were enough in his body to last a lifetime just a few months prior. 

"No, no stitches please." Damen sighs. And lifts Laurent's foot up high enough to look at the wound. As soon as he pulls the gauze off blood pours from the wound and he sees how big the cut is.

"Shit, Laurent I don't have a choice now. This is really deep."

"Fine, just be quick please." Damen searches through the bag of first aid supplies he owns and finds a suture kit. Laurent just closes his eyes and allows Damen to slowly and carefully stitch the wound closed. The pain is dizzying but nothing Laurent hasn't learned how to endure by now. Tears form in his eyes and stream down his face thinking about the last time he needed to be sutured. 

"Hey, are you okay?" Laurent quickly wipes the tears from his face and slides away as soon as Damen lets go of his foot. "Laurent, calm down. It's okay."

"Just leave me alone." Laurent crawls back further when Damen tries to scoot closer. "Last time I got stitches I almost died. Please leave me alone for a minute."

"If that's what you need." Damen moves back and cleans up the puddle of blood on the bathroom floor and then leaving to clean up the trail of blood out into the other room. Laurent stays pressed into the back corner against the bathtub. After twenty minutes Damen comes back in the room and looks at Laurent with pity when he sees how terrified Laurent is. "Can I pick you up? I just want to take you to bed."

"Fine." Carefully Damen lifts Laurent up off of the floor and brings him back to the bedroom. As soon as Damen sets him down on the bed Laurent crawls to the back corner and pulls the blankets up. 

“What can I do for you?”

“Just get out.” Laurent snaps. Damen nods and makes his way out. As soon as he walks out of the bedroom he runs right into Nik waiting for him outside of the room.

“Is he okay?” He whispers. 

“I fuck up everything.” Damen lets slip out. He is so stressed he almost collapses forward against Nik.

“What happened?” Nik pulls Damen down the hall and outside where they can talk alone. “How bad is it? It didn’t seem like all that much blood.”

“No, it was just a few stitches.” Damen runs his fingers through his hair and lets out a loud yell in frustration. He kicks a rock nearby sending it flying into the side of the house and back at Nik. “He cried over the stitches because last time he had them was when I tried to kill him.”

“And you’re upset because you made him feel like that?”

“No, I’m angry because I still want to do that to him,” Damen screams. Nik takes a half step back in shock but regroups himself to talk. It still surprises him sometimes that his best friend could want to do those things to people, its something he could never fully understand. Damen never let Nik see that side of himself so hearing what he had done was a huge shock. Nik grabs him by the side of his shirt sleeve and drags him into the woods with him. “Let go of my arm.”

“Follow me then, don’t stop and walk away if I let go.” They hike through the woods for a while until they end up at a beautiful empty beach. The sand is pure white and the waters are a clear beautiful blue. As soon as they get there Damen just stands at the forest line with his arms crossed staring angrily at Nik. “Get your ass out here.”

“You dragged me this far to go to a fucking beach?” Damen snaps. He’s still on edge and willing to kill pretty much anyone that comes near him at this point excluding Nik. They had been friends for so long that even though they argue and yell at each other a lot, they don’t take their frustrations out on each other and get into fights. The last time Damen punched Nik was the first time he was going through withdrawal, and as soon as he was sober he apologized for it. 

“You’re going to do something stupid at the house when you’re this worked up, calm down here and then we can go back.” Damen glares for a while but eventually takes a few steps out onto the beach. As he steps out into the sand, Nik steps back towards the forest line to stand and wait out of the way. 

Damen’s heart is racing, it’s the only thing that he can hear in his head. It pounds louder and louder the more he tries to get himself to stop thinking about hurting Laurent. He picks up the first rock he sees at launches it into the water. He kicks up some sand not knowing what to do here but then he can’t help himself. His shoes are kicked off and his phone is dropped in the sand next to them and he walks right out into the water. The water comes halfway up his chest before he stops walking. The waves make it hard to stand in one spot so he bounces up and down to avoid them but as a large one comes rolling in when he’s not paying attention, he gets swept under the water. The feeling of water filling his nose and lungs burns like fire filling his chest. He can’t see which way is up or down to get out no matter how hard he fights. Just as he thinks he has himself oriented, another wave comes crashing down throwing him back under again. His limbs grow weaker as the minutes drag on when he feels an arm wrap around his waist and drag him to the surface. They make their way back to the beach and Damen’s body is thrown down in the sand. Water comes spilling out of his lungs as he coughs it up. 

“Fuck,” Damen lets out when he catches his breath.

“Are you calmed down a little?” Nik laughs. 

“A little I guess.” Nik lets out a heavy breath and collapses in the sand next to Damen. They both lay in the sand together trying to catch their breaths. “Fuck I want to get high.”

“Even after all of that?” Damen lays out in the sand for a long time. Even after Nik makes his way back to the house, Damen can’t get himself to get up. His mind is still racing even though he’s calmer than he was before he almost drown. It’s not just Laurent’s foot that set him off like this. Everytime Laurent does anything now he has to take a second to think about what he’s doing before he makes a choice he might regret. Laurent cuddling with him in bed or using his leg as a pillow on the couch, asking if he can help with something related to selling so Damen doesn’t mess up. It all drives Damen so crazy it's hard to keep himself under control. 

Once Damen’s clothes are somewhat dry and now are just dirty from the sand and salty water, he makes his way back to the house. He was so focused on the way there on his own anger that he didn’t realize how far they actually walked. It takes twenty minutes to hike back through the forest to get back to the house. When he gets back, both Huet and Adrastus are waiting outside for him. 

“You alright?” Adrastus asks.

“Never fucking better,” 

“Damen you don’t have it together enough to keep this up. You need a break, do you want me to watch Laurent for a few days so you can calm down? I promise he won’t have to do anything while he’s there I just want to help.” Damen was walking past Adrastus as he said this so he just takes a half step pause and punches Adrastus as hard as he can right in the face. Adrastus falls backwards and lands on his back from the force of the punch. Damen shakes out the pain in his fist after he punches Adrastus. His knuckles ache from the force of the punch, even hitting Huet earlier didn’t hurt as bad as this punch did. 

“You touch him again and I’ll kill you.” Damen spits. 

Huet tries to stop him to talk but Damen just walks right past him in anger. Words are all mixed up in Damen’s mind so nothing would come out right if he even tried. He stomps down to the bedroom and quickly goes in to take a shower before Laurent can notice how dirty he is. Sand is imbedded all over his body, especially his hair. After the shower his hand still aches so he goes out to the kitchen and gets himself an ice pack before going back to lay down in bed next to Laurent. After the day they’ve both had, neither of them feel the need to speak or be close to each other. Laurent lay curled up with his pillows and most of the blanket in the back corner of the bed where he feels safe and warm. Damen lays close to the end of the bed with his legs dangling off the end and the ice pack resting on his chest to ice his bruised knuckles. 

“Laurent?”

“What?” Damen stays silent for a long while, just holding the ice on his hand. The longer he waits and thinks about what he wants to say the more he confuses himself. 

“Do you think I could ever change?” He eventually asks. 

“What do you mean?”

“I want to be a good person,” Damen says. “I don’t want to be like this. If I could be a better person I’d want that. I’m tired of feeling so angry all the time over the smallest things.”

“You want me to tell you the truth?”

“Of course.”

“No, I don’t think you can. You can pretend for a while but the real you is still there. I know you still want to hurt people, especially me. I don’t think you can change that.” Damen turns his head up to look at Laurent staring down at him. That wasn’t the answer he was hoping for and it feels like a knife in his gut. He doesn’t want Laurent to know how much it hurts to hear that so he turns his head away. “Some bad people can’t be fixed, and you’re one of them.”


	12. Chapter 12

Damen refused to speak for the next day after what Laurent said to him. It was more out of stubbornness than anything else. He was angry and sad and didn’t know how to express that in the right ways so he just shut down. Nik tried to come over but Damen locked the doors so no one could get in and turned off his phone so he didn’t have to deal with any phone calls. The silence even irritated Laurent when Damen just ignored him and laid in the living room staring off at the wall. The only time he would interact with Laurent was when he would make something to eat but it was only ever to hand over a plate and walk away. He didn’t turn his phone on to actually speak to someone until late that night where he received multiple phone calls. 

“What do you mean? He’s like eighty pounds just throw him in the trunk or some shit.” Damen yells. “Fuck it, fine. I’ll head there in the morning.”

“Where are you going?” Laurent asks. 

“Nicaise is throwing a fit and they’re having a hard time bringing him here so I’m going to go help bring him here.” Damen surprising says back to Laurent. Right away though he turns his head away to stare off at the wall again in hopes that Laurent will leave him alone, even though he knows that isn’t going to happen. 

“Isn’t that dangerous? Someone might catch you.”

“I didn’t think you’d care if I got caught,” Damen grumbles.

“Why are you mad at me?” Laurent asks. When Damen sits up to start to run away like he had been all day, Laurent sits down on the couch extremely close to him and grabs him by his thigh. “I’m not playing this stupid game.”

“If I can’t change then what’s the point in trying.” Damen snaps. Laurent sighs and rolls his eyes. Talking to Damen is like talking to a child and it’s irritating.

“I don’t think you can ever not feel the urge to kill me, but you’ve been doing better with your anger lately, at least around me. You’ve been kind and understanding when I have a bad day, that is a step forward. But acting like this is ridiculous and ruins what you’re working for.” Laurent pulls his hand away but he’s grabbed Damen’s attention enough now to get him to stay where he is.

“I almost knocked Adrastus out yesterday because I was so angry.” Damen chuckles and holds out his hand to look at the bruises that have formed on his knuckles. “I think I’m just upset because I know you’re right, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, just stop being such an ass.”

“Can I clean your stitches?” Laurent shakes his head and pulls back. “Please, I just want to take care of you.”

“Fine,” Damen helps him up and they head down the hall to the bedroom together. Laurent’s limp makes Damen want to help but any hand held out for support is pushed away. They make it all the way to the bathroom and Laurent sits on the edge of the tub to wait for Damen to do whatever it is he feels the need to do. He cleans them off with some water and towel and then spends time looking at every stitch to make sure nothing looks infected or opened up. Since the wound is on the bottom of his foot, Damen is really worried about it opening back up because of the pressure put on them. One of Damen’s hands picks at each stitch while the other holds Laurent’s leg still by the back of his knee. When he’s satisfied enough with what the stitches look like he looks up and realizes where his other hand is placed, slowly sliding it down his leg. “Are my legs too much for you?”

“A little bit.” Damen jokes, shifting in place to try and hide how affected he really is. 

“I can see that,” Laurent says, gesturing down to Damen’s crotch. Damen quickly let's go and slides away. “Is it my legs that turn you on or that you hurt me?”

“I haven’t touched you in so long.” Damen stutters. His head turns away in embarrassment but that doesn’t stop Laurent from belittling him. 

“How pathetic, you touched my calf, not my dick.” Laurent slides down off of the tub and lands on his knees in between Damen’s legs. One hand lands on his knee for stability and the other grabs his hand. Guiding Damen’s hand, Laurent makes Damen run his fingers down his chest and to his waist almost going into his pants. “This would have been something to make your dick hard over, not cleaning my stitches you fucking pervert. Go deal with that on your own I’m not fucking helping.”

“Laurent wait,” Damen tries to stop him but Laurent drops his hand and walks out of the bathroom on his own, closing the door behind him. Damen jumps up and hurries out after him. “Hey, come on. Are you really upset with me over this?”

“I’m just fucking with you, I’m not helping you with that though.” Damen lets out a breath in relief and stops where he is. He was terrified that his body’s reaction to Laurent’s actually got him into trouble.

“I have to go talk to Nik, can you sit still for a few minutes, I’ll be right back.” 

“Ask Nik to suck your dick while you’re there.” Laurent jokes, sitting down on the couch. 

“Shut up.” Damen laughs. He walks outside and over to Nik’s house.

“Wow, nice to finally hear from you,” Nik says when Damen walks in. 

"Can I borrow your truck tomorrow?"

"Why the fuck would you need that?" Nik asks.

"They are having a tough time bringing Nicaise here. I'm going to go help pick him up so they don't kill him." Nik’s house is smaller than Damen’s so even if Nik wanted to avoid him there aren’t many places to run away to. 

"The kid you had kidnapped? No, you're not doing something that stupid for a child."

"Either I 'borrow' your truck or I 'steal' it. I'm going to pick him up in the morning no matter what the hell you say."

“Fine,” Nik walks across the room and finds his keys for Damen. “One scratch and I’ll kick your ass.”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Damen nods as he heads back out to his own house. As soon as he opens the door Laurent’s head pops up to look at him from the couch. Damen can see the snarky comments he wants to say just by the look he gives but Laurent decides to keep his mouth shut instead. “You ready to go to bed?”

“Sure,” Laurent follows behind Damen as they head to the bedroom and watches Damen strip down to his boxers and a T-shirt before sliding in bed. It’s then that Laurent finally decides what he really wants to do with himself. Damen is leaving and he’s been so unstable with his mood that Laurent doesn’t trust him to not do anything stupid. If he doesn’t come back then he’s stuck living here with Nik and there is no way Nik would ever willingly let him go. Laurent sneaks over to the dresser and pulls out his outfit from Adrastus’.

"Are you coming to bed?"

"I'll be there in just a second." Laurent hurries into the bathroom and changes into the outfit he has from Adrastus'. It took a while to tie the ribbon behind his neck by himself but eventually, he manages to get it. He feels like doing this should make him nervous but it doesn't, everything about this feels fine to him.

"Damen," Damen's head pops up from his pillow and his eyes grow wide when he sees Laurent dressed in the outfit from Adrastus. Laurent lets the robe hang off his shoulders and sit on his forearms.

"What are you doing?" Damen eventually manages to ask after staring for a long while. Laurent just struts forward confidently, dropping the robe on the way, and slides into bed in Damen's lap. His bad foot dangles off the edge of the bed so to not accidentally press it into the bedsheets. "Laurent what the hell."

"This is your goodbye gift." Laurent’s hands run all the way over Damen’s chest. Damen shifts in place not being able to sit still with Laurent sitting over him. Laurent's hands travel all the way down to the waistband on Damen's boxers and under his shirt. "I know how dangerous it is for you to leave here."

"What are you wearing?"

"I thought you liked this outfit." Damen’s eyes can’t stop tracing over Laurent’s body. This outfit is so revealing that Damen is afraid to even let his eyes look down. His hands stay away from Laurent’s body but he can’t help but reach to steady his body. Laurent reaches up and makes Damen turn his head back to look at him when he tries to look away. “Look me in the eyes when I touch you.”

"Wait, stop." Damen grabs Laurent's wrist and holds it away from his body when his fingers slip inside his boxers. "I don't want this if you don't and you very obviously don't."

"When did I say I don't want this?" Laurent pouts. He snatches his wrist out of Damen's hand but keeps his place on Damen's lap.

"You barely let me talk to you and now you think I'm going to believe you actually want to touch me? And what's up with this outfit? I thought you hated this."

"You ask too many questions." Laurent reaches behind him and pulls the lace at the back of his neck keeping his top on and helps guide it to fall on Damen's chest. "What do you want from me?"

"What happened to you at Adrastus'?" Damen cautiously runs a hand up Laurent's side and over one of his old scars. "This isn't you. You would never do this before."

"Tell me what you want."

"A kiss." Damen finally says. Laurent leans in slow, hesitant about it. Damen was right, Laurent doesn't really want this but he doesn't really know how else to show what he's trying to show right now. In fear of making Laurent uncomfortable, Damen lets Laurent lead. It's quick, uncomfortable and almost like kissing a stranger. After everything, Laurent is still afraid Damen might snap and kill him one day but right now it seems pretty unlikely as the man melts under Laurent's kiss. Damen's hands slowly move up to Laurent's back and shift them so he lays on his back and Damen can hover over him. Laurent stares up in shock but Damen just watches with love in his eyes. "What's going on with you?"

"I don't think this can ever feel the same as it did," Laurent admits. "But I can't let myself live this angry all the time."

"Why did you try to touch me?"

"I want to give you the motivation to come back. I can't have you get caught." Laurent lay flat on his back as Damen hovers in closer at every moment. He glances down at Laurent's chest where his shirt landed and carefully pulls it away and tosses it on the floor. Fingers trace lightly over Laurent's bare chest but stop as soon as he realizes what he's doing. "If you don't come back, I can never touch you again."

"What do you mean? Of course, I'm coming back. I'll be back by tomorrow night."

"Think about it, if you get caught what happens to me? Nik hates me he will send me off to Adrastus the first chance he gets. I can not go there again, I need you to come back. I'd rather live here with you than with anyone else." Laurent grips the front of Damen's shirt to hold him in close. Damen is so spaced out admiring Laurent's features he barely catches what Laurent said. "You have to come back."

"I'll always come back." Damen mumbles. "I promise, I'll come back."

Damen does something stupid and leans down to kiss Laurent. Surprisingly he doesn’t push away and just lets Damen do what he wants to. Hands don’t travel past Laurent’s chest where his fingers draw small circles happy to just touch skin. Laurent’s hand travels down low to Damen’s waist to try again. His hand gets almost all the way in his boxers before he’s stopped. When Damen finally pulls back Laurent lays in shock on the bed below him. To see him lay almost naked beneath him Damen is left staring in shock again.

“Thought I’d make sure you didn’t want it.” Laurent jokes. 

“I don’t, I’m not taking advantage of you.” Damen is serious about what he said. He doesn’t want to do anything with Laurent until he wants to, even if that means they never do again. He never wants to take the chance of taking advantage of Laurent for his own benefit because in the end hurting Laurent in that way would destroy him. 

“I wish I could go with you,” Laurent mumbles after a while. His fingertips trace over Damen’s collarbones and neck as they talk. 

“I’m sure you do, you’ll be alright here with Nik though.”

“We don’t get along.”

“This will be a chance for you two to talk.” Laurent laughs at the idea of getting along with him.

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”

“Get some sleep, I’ll see you tomorrow,” Damen says. Laurent nods and turns over on his side away from Damen. Damen just lays where he is and stares at the muscles of Laurent’s back. He knows he’ll be back soon, but Laurent’s words sting in his brain thinking about not coming back. If this was the last time he saw Laurent would he be happy? Damen stays like this for over an hour until he’s sure Laurent is asleep and he gets up from the bed. With one last kiss to Laurent’s cheek that he knows he probably shouldn’t give, he heads outside and over to Nik’s house. 

“What the fuck do you want?” Nik mumbles sleepily. 

“I need to sleep here.” Nik’s anger disappears and he nods, moving aside for Damen to come in. “Can you go over there just in case he wakes up?”

“What happened?”

“He’s scared I won’t come back and I can’t be there right now.”

“That would only bother you if you were afraid too,” Nik says, standing in the doorway. “You know you could get caught.”

“I know, I came over here so I wouldn’t have to think about that. Please, just go over there.” Nik nods and leaves the house to head to Damen’s, leaving Damen alone at his place. 

Unlike at Damen’s house, Nik has a spare bedroom despite having a significantly smaller house. So Damen heads in and lays down on the spare bed in hopes that maybe sleep will come. But of course, sleep doesn’t come easily to him when he has things on his mind and no one next to him to calm him down. So after a few hours worth of pretending like sleep might come, eventually he gives in and paces the house for something to do. It’s the bottles of alcohol and pills that have him struggling not to break his sobriety. It would be easy enough to just give in and drink himself blind, Laurent would never even know about it if he didn’t go home. But he needs to go get Nicaise and if he doesn’t go now he’s going to do something stupid. It might still be the middle of the night but if he goes now then he can get back sooner and the temptations of drinking won’t be here anymore.


	13. Chapter 13

When Laurent wakes up in the morning Damen is no longer next to him. The sheets are cold next to Laurent, telling him Damen has been gone for a while. Laurent slips out of bed, carefully walking on his injured foot, and slipping on a change of clothes. He walks to the bedroom door and prays its unlocked, thankfully it opens right up and Laurent limps down the hallway to the kitchen. In the living room Nik lay out on the couch fast asleep. He's here to babysit Laurent. Damen won't be here until later tonight. Laurent heads back into the kitchen and cooks breakfast. He makes eggs, oranges, and a croissant that Damen made. Not only did he make himself a plate but a plate for Nik. He walks out into the living quietly and sets the plate down on the table. As soon as he sets it down Nik’s eyes shoot open and look up at Laurent.

“What’s this?” Nik mumbles.

“Breakfast.” 

“Thanks.” He rolls on his side and reaches out to grab the plate, not bothering to sit up. “What? No coffee?”

“Do you not remember what happened last time I drank coffee?” Laurent snaps. He was here when Laurent threw up the coffee the other morning, he’s not making a whole pot just for him.

“I thought you were just hungover, I don’t pay attention to what you don’t like.” Nik sits up and walks past Laurent into the kitchen. Without another word of complaint Nik makes a pot of coffee and sits back down with a mug. Laurent sits down in the bedroom to eat so he doesn’t have to be near Nik. The silence of the bedroom, that is usually filled with Damen trying to make morning small talk, is almost deafening to Laurent. It feels so strange to sit in this house without him and go about his day as normal. There have been days when Damen goes out to Nik’s or Adrastus’ house but he was always around in the mornings and always back at night. Being without him just feels so new after months of being trapped with him. When Laurent finishes eating he heads out to go wash up the dishes. He walks out into the living room to get Nik’s plate to see his food only half eaten and him passed out again. 

“Nik,” Nik jumps awake and looks up at Laurent. “You done?”

“Yeah.” He mumbles. Laurent grabs his plate from the table and wanders off to go wash it. A few minutes later he wanders into the kitchen to pour himself another cup of coffee but doesn’t offer Laurent any help and doesn’t say a word to him. 

Laurent decided to spend most of his day doing the few things left around the house Damen hasn’t had the time to do recently. The laundry needs to be done, the floor in the kitchen needs to be swept, and the bathroom in the bedroom needs to be cleaned. 

Laundry can be done while doing other stuff so he throws in a load of laundry and starts with sweeping the kitchen floors. Nik glances up at him a few times but words are never spoken between the two. As soon as that is done he gets started on the bathroom. It really isn’t that dirty but Laurent has nothing else to do so he decided to entertain himself with this. He scrubs the bathtub, shower, sink, toilet, and floors. Everything is reorganized to make it easier to get to. By the time he’s done with all of this he still has plenty of time left to just sit in bed and relax. 

A few times during the day Nik would walk down the hall and just look in the bedroom at Laurent to see what he was doing. He’d never say anything, just make eye contact with Laurent lounging in bed and then turn and walk the other way. Damen requested that he makes sure Laurent was alright throughout the day so this was his best attempt at it. But as the day dragged into what Laurent assumed was night, he got more and more ready for Damen to just come home already. 

"What time will Damen be home?"

"Around nine," Nik mumbles, not bothering to look up. Laurent nods and gets to work on cooking dinner. If he makes dinner for himself and Nik now then he’ll have time to make something for Damen and Nicaise. After traveling all day Laurent knows that Damen hasn’t bothered to eat anything. When Laurent sets a plate of food down on the table next to Nik he looks shocked. The two don’t get along so he never expected him to willingly cook him anything. “Thanks.”

Again, Laurent leaves the room to let him eat on his own and so he can eat by himself. He heads off to the kitchen and sits at the table there this time to eat dinner. Even just one room away is better than sitting next to Nik and eating in silence. Laurent only takes a few minutes to eat before he’s up and washing up the dishes. Once he’s done he gets started cooking for Damen and Nicaise. When Nik walks in a few minutes later he stops in the doorway and just watches Laurent moving around the kitchen cooking. 

“Just set it in the sink, I’ll wash it in a second,” Laurent says when he notices him. Nik just glances over and pushes Laurent out of his way a little so he can get to the sink and wash the dishes. 

“Why are you cooking for him?” Nik asks quietly.

“Why can’t I do something nice?” His hands' pause and his head jerk up to look at Laurent like he doesn’t know how to answer that. 

“Because he’s a dick.”

“Yeah, but I live here so why shouldn’t I be nice?” Laurent hops across the room to grab something from the fridge and Nik just stops and stares. “I mean when he’s not having a shitty day he does usually try not to be an ass.”

“How’s your foot?” Nik asks trying to change the subject. 

“It’s fine.”

“Damen said you shouldn’t be walking on that, are you sore?”

“It's not that bad, I’d rather be a little sore than sitting around doing nothing.” Nik nods and quietly washes the rest of the dishes for him. 

“If I get in trouble for letting you walk around you’re getting your ass kicked, you understand?”

“Of course,” Laurent finishes cooking dinner earlier than he expected so he sets everything on the stove and goes to sit down on the couch to rest his aching foot. An injury like this probably wouldn’t hurt as much as it does if it was made to a different part of the body. But because Laurent is constantly putting pressure on it despite Damen’s protests and yelling at him about it, it’s fairly sore most of the time. It’s hard to exist in the house, especially without Damen, without being able to walk on his injured foot. It’s only another twenty minutes before Damen walks inside dragging Nicaise inside by his arm. Nicaise doesn't fight but he doesn't look very happy to be here. As soon as Nik sees him walk through the door he jumps up and hurries to leave.

“God damn Nik, we just got here.”

“And I want to go home, I’m bored as fuck and tired.” Nik walks past them as he drags Nicaise inside the house. 

"Let go of me." Nicaise pulls his arm out of Damen's grip and steps back. Instead of addressing any of the things that need to get done today still, Damen practically knocks Laurent over with a hug. After Laurent's actions last night Damen is a lot more comfortable showing affection.

"I told you I'd make it back," Damen mumbles into Laurent's shoulder. Laurent still stands frozen in shock with his arms down by his side.

"I'm glad, I would have been very upset if I had to go live with Adrastus because you were dumb enough to get caught." They are pulled away from this moment when Damen hears the sound of Nicaise pulling at the front door. He wiggles the door handle, trying to figure out how the locks work but just giving up and pulling on the door when he can’t open it. When he gets frustrated Nicaise kicks the bottom of the door a few times. 

"Let me out!"

"Hey, stop it and look at me." Damen kneels down in front of him and spins him around to face Damen. "You were practically living on your own anyways. We'll take care of you here, you don't need to fight me."

"You're a murderer." Nicaise spits back. He looks up at Laurent standing a few paces behind in disgust. "He tried to kill you, and here you are still with him. You're worse than him."

"Do not talk to Laurent like that." Damen snaps. "You always tried hanging around my apartment when I was home, and now you get to live with me. If you would have left those guys alone you wouldn't be here."

"They were taking stuff that doesn't belong to them."

"Thank you for trying to protect my stuff. But now you're here, so let's get you settled in."

"I made you two some dinner," Laurent says. Damen turns his head to Laurent and smiles.

"Thank you, Laurent. Are you hungry Nicaise?" He frowns but nods to Damen. Damen walks him into the kitchen and serves him a plate. The boy grew up basically on his own so even a meal as basic as the one Laurent managed to scrape together seems amazing for him.

"When was the last time you had something to eat Damen?”

“I’m fine, I have stuff to do still.” Laurent grabs him by the wrist and drags him to sit down at the table. 

“Eat something.” Laurent fixes him a plate and tosses it in front of him when he tries to resist. “Don’t fight me asshole, just shut up and eat.”

“You’re pushy.” Nicaise manages between bites. 

“That’s because he doesn’t listen.” Damen just rolls his eyes and takes a bite of food to make Laurent happy.

“Thank you for this Laurent, you didn’t have to.”

“What else was I supposed to do? You left me alone with Nik, I was bored and I thought you might be hungry when you got home.” Damen nods and keeps eating like he’s starving even though he tried to resist the food. 

“How’s your foot?” 

“It’s fine,”

“You’ve been walking on it.” Damen glares. 

“It’s fine, just a little sore.” Damen sighs and eats the rest of his dinner when Laurent points at it. When Nicaise finishes he stands up with his plate and looks at Laurent. 

“You can just set that in the sink,” Damen says. Nicaise walks past Laurent and shoves him just hard enough so he loses balance and puts weight on his foot. 

“Fuck.”

“Nicaise!” Damen hurries over and forces Laurent to sit down in a chair. He checks to make sure none of the stitches were ripped out. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine Damen.”

“Hey! Don’t you dare put your hands on him!” Damen screams. Nicaise’s eyes grow wide and he backs himself into a wall when Damen comes at him. Damen grabs him by the wrist and drags him over to where Laurent sits. “You see his foot? You could have hurt him.”

“Leave him alone, I’m alright.” Laurent grabs Damen by his shoulder and pulls him back so he’s not near Nicaise anymore. “Come on, you should go sit down and relax. You’re probably tired.”

“Fine,” Laurent takes him by the hand and lets Damen drag them down the hall to the bedroom. If they go down to the bedroom then that gives Nicaise the opportunity to explore the house wherever he wants without being nervous about running into Damen or going somewhere he shouldn’t. As they walk into the bedroom Nicaise creeps down the hall after them and peaks in the door. “I really did miss you today, Laurent.”

“I’m sure you did.” Laurent sits down on the edge of the bed and Damen eagerly sits next to him.

“I didn’t want to leave you alone in this bed.” Damen leans in for a kiss but Laurent pushes him back. When Damen’s eyes start to look away embarrassed, Laurent tries to casually signal to him that Nicaise is peaking in the doorway watching them. When he finally catches on after a moment he nods and scoots back to put space between the two. “After what you said I was nervous.”

“Well, you made it back okay so stop stressing about it.”

"Oh, yeah I got you a present." He walks out of the room for a while and comes back with a large cardboard box in hand, dropping it on the floor and heading back out to get another. He makes two more trips until there are three boxes sitting on the floor by the table.

"What is it?" Laurent cautiously creeps closer to the boxes and drops down on his knees in front of them.

"Open them." Damen smiles and sits down in a chair at the table. Carefully Laurent peels open the first box to reveal it full of Damen's old books.

"I had some stuff picked up from my apartment, I didn't see why I couldn't have the books brought back for you. I know you've been bored."

"Thank you," Laurent says quietly. He sits on the floor for almost an hour searching through all of the books. More than half of the books Damen has are in Akielon but that's fine because it will give him a chance to practice the language so he can understand everyone around him better. Damen brings in a few more boxes of stuff that Laurent doesn’t get to see because Damen just stacks them up against the wall and leaves them closed.

Nicaise spends time pacing the house but when he gets bored he walks up to Laurent and steals a book out of the box. He takes it and sits in out in the living room away from Damen. Damen just lounges on the bed happily watching everything Laurent does. His eyes flutter open and closed repeatedly but he refuses to let himself fall asleep for a long time so Laurent has the time to read. A little while later Damen gives in though and tells Nicaise it's time for bed and makes him a makeshift bed on the floor for him.

“I don’t want to sleep in here with you, let me sleep on the couch.”

“I’m not going to bother you, just lay down and go to sleep.” Damen points at the makeshift bed and walks over to the bedroom door to lock it for the night. He locks it a lot of the time when they go to bed so Laurent can’t go anywhere and no one else can get in but now also so Nicaise can’t leave. Nicaise glares at him as he locks the door but just slides under the blankets and hides his face in the pillow in frustration. “You too Laurent, time for bed.”

"I'm busy," Laurent mumbles, not bothering to look up from his book. 

"No, it’s time for bed I want to go to sleep now." Damen walks over and picks Laurent up carrying him over to bed. On the floor at the side of their bed, Nicaise lay curled up with Damen's pillow and a few of their warmer blankets. Quietly the two climb into bed to avoid bothering him.

"Thank you for the books," Laurent mumbles quietly. "I think I'll be able to tolerate this house better with something to do during the day."

"I hope so." Damen reaches out and almost sets a hand on Laurent's side but stops himself halfway and lets it rest on the bed between them. "I'm sorry about Nicaise, he's just a little upset right now."

"You kidnapped him, I understand how he feels."

"The guys that brought him here we're going to kill him. I didn't have a choice."

"I don't want to talk about this anymore." Laurent pulls the blankets up and cuddles into bed.

“Hey, wait wait wait, okay I get it. You went through something like what he did. Don’t shut me out though.” Damen says. “I was gone all day, talk to me. I missed you.”

“It’s not like we did anything here, how was your trip?” 

“Long, I haven’t had to drive that far in a while.” 

“Why did you have people go to your apartment anyway?”

“I had cash and some other stuff hidden there.” Damen’s hand finally reaches out and runs over Laurent’s shoulder. “It’s not that important.”

“You went for cash and you ended up with a kid. What are you going to do with him?”

“I don’t know, I can’t have him hurting you like this. Something else is going to have to happen to him.”

“Can you guys shut up,” Nicaise calls out. Damen smirks and rolls his eyes, but pulls his hand away from Laurent’s side. 

“Goodnight, Nicaise.”


	14. Chapter 14

“Hey you’re awake, I’ll be right back. He’s still asleep so just stay in bed.” Damen says to Laurent who just barely opens his eyes. Damen is already dressed and showered like he’s been up for a long time while Laurent struggles to just open his eyes. 

“Where are you going?” Laurent mumbles. 

“I need to talk to someone, I’ll be back soon.” 

“What time is it?” Damen leans down and kisses the top of his head. 

“It’s still early, just go back to sleep.” Damen moves to stand back up but Laurent sleepily grabs him by the front of his shirt. “Hey, what’s up sweetheart?”

“Come back to bed, you can talk to whoever it is later.” Laurent reaches up and snakes his arms around Damen’s neck until he climbs back in bed. Laurent was awake enough to know that Damen going out this early meant he could be going to get into trouble so keeping him in bed a little longer will avoid that. 

“I have stuff to do sweetheart, what’s going on?”

“Nicaise’s still sleeping.” Laurent mumbles. “Just go back to sleep.”

“Just for a few minutes.” Damen sighs and kisses the top of his head again. Laurent pulls his head back and pulls Damen’s down to kiss him. Slow and sleepy Laurent’s kisses make Damen twist around to hover over him. Hands run down Laurent’s chest until his eyes shoot open to stare at Damen hovering over him. “What’s going on with you?”

“You can get up now.”

“Laurent,” Damen frowns and actually slides under the blankets again. He wraps an arm around Laurent’s waist and keeps him close. “What’s up with you?”

“Where are you going?” 

“Adrastus needs me to go with him so he can get more product.” Laurent’s forehead scrunches in annoyance. “I’m never going to touch it.”

“I don’t even want Adrastus to have it, Pallas and Isander shouldn’t have to deal with that.”

“We need the money and the protection though.”

“Take me with you,” Laurent demands. 

“I can’t, just go back to sleep for a little while and watch Nicaise for me. I’ll be back soon.” One more kiss, this time initiated by Damen and shocking Laurent, is given long enough for hands to want to start wandering. One of Damen’s forearms stays firms placed next to Laurent’s head holding him up, the other grips the bottom of his waist. His fingers dig into the skin at Laurent’s waist. Laurent pushes back hard until Damen is forced to pull back, but he leaves his hands where they are. 

“Slow it down before you get yourself too heated, I’m still not helping with that. _Especially_ with a child sleeping next to us.” Damen sighs and nods. “Don’t get upset with me, I gave you your chance once. You said no, that was it.” 

“I’m not upset with you, I don’t want to leave now. The longer I wait though, the more pissed off Adrastus is going to be.” Laurent wraps an arm around his neck and pulls down until he flops down on his chest. They lay like this for a while until Damen can’t wait any longer and he slips out of bed once again. 

“Be back soon, don’t do anything stupid.” Damen nods and silently tiptoes around Nicaise. 

“Just go back to sleep.” Damen disappears out the bedroom door with the familiar sound of the door locking behind him. Laurent is wide awake now but it doesn’t take long for sleep to overtake him again. He doesn’t know how long he’s asleep for but he assumes it’s at least another few hours. When Nicaise finally wakes up another half hour after him, he instantly looks up at the bed for Damen. 

“Good morning,” Laurent says when Nicaise jumps awake. “It’s just us right now don’t worry.” 

“I want to go home,” Nicaise whines. He stands up and runs over to the bedroom door and pulls at it, but Damen locked it behind him on his way out. 

“Hey, it’s alright calm down. Do you want to take a shower?” Laurent stands up and walks over to him but Nicaise moves away from him in fear. When Laurent gets close Nicaise just looks up and kicks him as hard as he possibly can in his bad leg, sending Laurent tumbling to the floor pushing over a pile of books on his way down.

“Fuck you, he tried to kill you and you’re sleeping in his bed letting him put his hands on you. Are you that desperate?” The door flies open behind him when Damen hears the loud crash from the books fall and he walks in on Nicaise standing over Laurent. Nicaise’s eyes grow wide as soon as he sees the anger in Damen’s eyes. 

“Hey! What the hell is wrong with you.” Damen yells at Nicaise, helping Laurent back to his feet. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, I just wasn’t expecting it. I thought you weren’t here?” Damen sits Laurent down at the table and does a quick check to make sure he looks unharmed.

“I just got back.” As soon as Damen is satisfied that Laurent is okay, he turns and grabs Nicaise by the back of the shirt, slamming him into the wall. 

“Damen, don’t.”

“You keep your fucking hands to yourself do you hear me?” Nicaise nods over and over, turning his head away from Damen in fear. “Apologize.”

“But I meant what I said.” Damen pulls him fast away from the wall and holds him out by the back of his shirt. When he doesn’t say anything Damen grabs one of his petite arms and bends it behind his back until his legs almost give out from the pain. 

“I said, apologize. Now, Nicaise or I’ll break it don’t fucking test me. Just ask Laurent and see what I’m willing to do to a person. Say you’re sorry.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have kicked you. I didn’t mean what I said, now let me go.” Damen lets go of his arm and Nicaise quickly takes a few steps back from him. 

“Now, go take a damn shower.” Damen shoves him into the bathroom and shuts the door from him, locking it from the outside so he can’t get out. A feature he must have added just in case Laurent ever got out of line and he needed a place to keep him trapped. 

“You were a little harsh to him don’t you think?”

“No, I’m fucking tired of dealing with people being shitty to you.” Damen walks out again leaving Laurent alone to wait for Nicaise to shower. When he finishes up the door handle turns and finds the door locked. He pulls at the door but stops himself and knocks until Laurent walks up and unlocks it for him.

“Are you mad at me?”

“No, come on, let’s go make you some breakfast.” Nicaise nods and follows along behind Laurent as they make their way out to the kitchen. He almost runs right into the back of Laurent though when they stop dead in their tracks at the sight of Adrastus. 

“Good morning sweetheart.” Adrastus winks. Talking to Nicaise is always done in Veretian because that is where he has lived his entire life and he has never been exposed to Akielon before. The few words spoken by this stranger are foreign and Nicaise looks up to Laurent for guidance, no longer trusting Damen. 

“What is he doing here?” Laurent spits.

“Oh, that’s no way to talk to me. Why can’t you be nice for once?” Laurent just glares and stays far away from him so Nicaise doesn’t have to get close to him. Adrastus is a horrible man and there’s no need for him to ever get to know Nicaise. 

“There he is,” Damen says, pointing to Nicaise, hiding behind Laurent. All three look back at him and his eyes grow wide in shock. 

“What about him?” Laurent asks. 

"I can't have him here if he's going to attack you.” He says to Laurent, turning his attention back to Adrastus. “Can you take him?"

"He's a little young don't you think?" Adrastus says, staring over at Nicaise.

"Damen no, please don't do that. You can't make him work he'll be killed the first time he talks back. He’s too young for this." Nicaise stares up at them with wide eyes, having no idea what they are talking about. He's grown up in Vere and has almost never been exposed to the Akielon language. "I'll deal with it, just don't send him with Adrastus. What about Nik?"

"Nik won't want to take him, but I don't want him to work. Can you just take him? I'll pay you to have him live there, just let him sleep there. I'll find him other stuff to do during the day, please just take him."

"I can't have him starting fights, I will not have my boys touched at all." Laurent laughs at the lies Adrastus tells but doesn't comment on it, Damen knows how ridiculous it is too. "I expect payment every week."

"Of course," Damen says. Nicaise still stares up at the three with fear in his eyes. Damen glances down at Nicaise and sighs, realizing it's time to translate for him. "Alright, I can't have you fighting with Laurent. I brought him here and I can't have him worrying about fighting with you."

"So what? Are you going to kill me then?"

"No, you're going to live with Adrastus." Damen motions to Adrastus and Nicaise's eyes grow wide with fear. "There are some other boys living there you'll make friends with. You'll come over here to visit me a lot I promise, if anything is going wrong there then you just tell me and we'll move you back."

"No, I'm not leaving. You brought me here, I want to stay here." Nicaise crosses his arms over his chest and refuses to move.

"Come on kid, I need to go." Adrastus holds out a hand but Nicaise refuses to go with him.

"I'll go with you," Damen says. When Nicaise still refuses to move, Damen grabs around the waist and lifts him up over his shoulder.

"No! Let go! I don't want to go!" Nicaise screams and thrashes in Damen's arms but Damen doesn't put him down. He reaches out and grabs at Laurent’s sleeve in hopes he might save him. “Laurent, I’m sorry. Stop him, I don’t wanna go.”

“Nicaise, let go you’re going to be fine.” Damen pulls him off of Laurent and carries him outside, slamming the door shut behind him. Nicaise screams the entire time, fighting and begging for Laurent to do something to help him. It broke Laurent’s heart to hear him beg for help like that but when Damen makes up his mind on something there’s no changing it. 

A few minutes later the door opens back up and Laurent hurries over to it only to see Nik at the door. Laurent just sighs and walks the other way. 

“Yeah yeah, I know. It’s just me.” Nik walks past Laurent and sits himself down on the couch. "Hey Laurent, I'm sorry,"

"For?" Laurent walks back into the room and leans against the back of the couch. Nik has never willingly said he's sorry about anything to Laurent before.

"For always being such an ass to you. I just get so angry with Damen all the time I guess I take it out on the wrong people sometimes." Laurent sits down on the couch so Nik might continue.

"Damen seems to make a lot of people angry. The better you know him the more he makes you angry, how long have you known him?"

"Since we were kids, we grew up in Akielos together."

"Good friends back then?"

"I followed after Damen like he was the greatest thing around from the day we met. My mother was afraid what kind of man I'd become with the way I felt for Damen. The feels were never mutual though."

"You had feelings for him?" Nik glances away in embarrassment, letting his eyes look around at anything but Laurent. This was something Laurent had never thought might be something anyone else has dealt with before. Nik is an ass to Laurent because he has feeling for Damen and who better to lash out at than the person that got him arrested. 

"Yes, but I'm not going to overstep I promise."

"I honestly don't care what you do with him if he wants to fuck you then let him." Nik smiles and looks away again. "So did you two start selling together too?"

"Yeah, when we were like fifteen I think.”

“How did that work out? Was Damen abusing drugs back then too?”

“Not too bad when we were younger but I got him through his first detox when his ex made him quit.”

“Was he worse then than when he was with me?”

“A lot worse, I dreaded answering my phone fearing Someone had found him overdosed somewhere. He just didn’t care if he lived or died then, when he was with you at least he cared enough about you to want to stop.” Nik looks down at his hands and shakes the thought of Damen overdosing out of his mind. That’s something he’s probably had to live with for years, it’s difficult to think about.

“How much were you selling then?”

“We went from petty little shit to twice the stuff you saw in Vere. Then one day he just decided to move to Vere on his own to split up the sales or something. It was devastated, after all that time and energy wasted on that man he just left like I meant nothing to him.”

“Was that after he killed his brother and his ex?” 

“I didn’t know he killed them, he said someone else did. He seemed so genuinely upset I had no idea. I never would have believed he was killing people like that. If I would have known I would have stopped him, I'm really sorry."

"It's not your fault, he was spiraling out of control. He’s manipulative, even those of us that know he is, have a hard time seeing it sometimes."

"I should have seen the signs though. I came and visited him as often as I could and he never let me see anyone he was dating. If I came over when he had someone over I would maybe see a glance of someone through the door before he shoved me out. He was doing really good with his addiction until he met you. When he met you he started going downhill. He let me meet you and I don't think he was ever clean until that last day before what happened. I wanted to come in and help you watch him but I was nervous about making Damen upset with me. Last time I helped him detox it almost ruined our friendship. If I had just come inside maybe we wouldn't be here."

Suddenly the front door opens and Damen comes trailing inside. When he sees Laurent and Nik sitting together he freezes.

"How's Nicaise?" Laurent asks when no one says anything.

"Upset but settling in well. What's going on here?" Damen walks out and sits down in the chair.

"Just talking to Nik. How's Isander and Pallas?"

"They look well, Isander asked me to tell you he says hi." Damen still stares between the two like he doesn't understand what is going on. "I'm sorry did I miss something here? I thought you two hated each other."

"You're the one who said we need to be civil. Did you change your mind or something?" Nik asks. "You want me to punch him in the face again or something?"

"Of course not, I just didn't think this would ever actually happen."

"Well congratulations, trapping me in this house accomplished one thing."

“What were you two talking about?”

“Nothing you need to know,” Laurent says. Nik smirks and Damen just rolls his eyes. 

“Well, I guess that’s one less thing for me to worry about.”

“We bonded over our common hatred of your stupidity,” Nik says, making Laurent laugh and Damen stare in shock. It was the first Laurent really laughed in months. The last time he let himself feel this good was before his brother died. Finally having an ally on his side feels like a breath of relief. Maybe one day Nik could be a help to Laurent’s escape from this place.


	15. Chapter 15

Everything falls back into routine for a few days as if the events with Nicaise never happened. Laurent wanted him to come back and tell them how Adrastus was treating him but Damen said he needed time to adjust to his new him first. The only reason Laurent went along with that is that there’s no way he could do anything change it. The stitches finally came out of his foot and Laurent was able to roam the house with very little difficulty again. The two wander around the house early in the morning just enjoying the day. Laurent wanders off to the bedroom and by the time he walks back out a man is standing in the house with some grocery bags around him. 

"Hey, Charls," Damen says. Laurent wanders down the hall to see a new man standing in the house. Neither of them notices Laurent until he gets right up next to Damen. "Laurent, this is Charls. He brings us whatever groceries we need."

"Nice to meet you." Charls politely nods to Laurent. Laurent just smiles and keeps quiet for now. Damen hands over a handful of cash and Charls makes his way back out. 

With Damen's help, Laurent gets everything put away where it belongs. He brought fruits, vegetables, meat, bread, sweets, coffees, beer, and all the other assorted things he got. This time he got Veretian coffee for Laurent to drink since he won’t drink Akielon. Then the last bag Damen refuses to let Laurent put away.

"Come here for a minute, Laurent." Damen wanders down the hall with the bag in hand. Laurent usually hates following orders from Damen but the curiosity gets the best of him and he's soon following after him. Damen sits down at the edge of the bed and Laurent stands out a few feet in front of him refusing to sit down. "I got you a present."

"A present? Weren't all those books a present to me already?"

"This is another present." Damen hands over the bag and Laurent hesitantly takes it. "It's not much, just something I thought you'd want."

Inside the bag is a wide range of different pants, shorts, button up shirts, t-shirts, sweaters, shoes, and more all in Laurent's size. Not just clothing but things that Laurent actually enjoys wearing and owned back home.

"What is this?"

"I just thought you'd want your own clothes for once. You're of course always welcome to continue wearing mine I just thought you might enjoy owning something of your own for once. I'm sorry it took so long to get these here, I promise I have been trying to get these here for you for a while it's just a lot harder than you think." Laurent drops the bag and pulls Damen into a hug.

"Thank you."

"Of course," Damen sighs happily into the hug in relief that Laurent actually liked his present. If he wouldn’t have, he would have been pretty embarrassed over making such a big deal over it. 

“Why is it harder than I think to get these here?” Laurent says as he sits down next to Damen on the bed.

“Food isn’t as hard, anyone can go pick that up as long as they aren’t picking up too much at once. But because I’m still on the run from the police, there’s a possibility that they are watching anyone who might have connections to me. Say I sent Nik out to go buy a bunch of new clothes for you.”

“It’d look suspicious if he had anything in my size.”

“Exactly, so it’s difficult sometimes to get certain things we need here without giving away where we are.” Laurent nods. Damen smirks and grabs Laurent around his waist and pulls him down to lay down. Laurent lets out a laugh and just lays his head back on Damen’s chest. “Thank you for being patient with me.”

“Of course.”

"I miss this," Damen says, squeezing an arm around Laurent’s waist so he can’t go anywhere. 

"Shouldn't have tried to kill me."

"I know, I regret so fucking much." With Laurent’s head rested on Damen’s chest, he doesn’t have to worry about looking at Damen. “I know you can never forgive me but I want you to be happy enough with me.”

“I know, I’m trying.” Damen’s hand gently runs over Laurent’s side to keep him calm. “I hope you know that I am actually trying.”

"Do you want to go for a walk?" He runs a hand through Laurent's hair gently as if he's ready for him to pull back at any second.

"Where? To the living room?" Laurent snorts.

"To Nik's house." Laurent's heart stops at Damen's words. He jumps and spins around to look at him. He doesn't laugh it off as a joke, he just stares at Laurent's face waiting for an answer. "I was just going to go talk to him for a while. It's right next door, it's not too far."

"You're letting me outside?" Damen nods. "I'm not walking with a blindfold on I'll fall."

"We're going for a walk, I don't expect you to wear a blindfold."

“Damen, you’re serious?” Laurent just sits frozen in bed but Damen nods ready for them to go. He doesn’t even understand how shocking it is for Laurent to think about leaving this house. Months trapped here, with no hope of leaving, and then suddenly Damen just offers up an escape. Yes, he wants to leave more than he can even fathom but it’s kind of terrifying to think about going outside. Being trapped has made Laurent both terrified to be locked inside and nervous about open spaces. 

“Are you okay? Do you not want to go? You can stay inside if you want to.”

“No!” Laurent shouts, reaching out involuntarily and grabbing at the front of Damen’s chest. “I want to go.”

“Okay, then let’s go. Get dressed.” The two slide out of bed and get dressed, even though Damen hates the idea of leaving the position they were in. Laurent is excited to get dressed in clothes that actually fit him and that he actually likes. A basic white button up shirt and black pants feel so comfortable for Laurent. Another thing that he feels excited to finally be able to wear is a pair of shoes. “Come on, let’s go.”

“I’m coming.” Damen grabs his hand and drags him to the door. 

Laurent's first step outside is blinding. The house is usually kept fairly dim so the midafternoon sun is harsh for Laurent and causes him to take a few steps back in shock. After a while, once his eyes adjust enough to see he takes the chance to look around. They are in the middle of the woods with the only way out being a small dirt path probably not made for a truck to drive on. Fifty feet over sits another house, just as small as theirs. All around the two houses in a small circle the trees are cleared out but the ones around are so tall they grow over the empty space above them to provide shade. It's warm here, not hot but comfortable enough that Laurent doesn't worry about getting cold. Damen pulls on Laurent's hand to get him moving but Laurent stands motionless staring out at everything he's missed.

"What do you think?"

"We really are hidden then I see. Good choice." They approach Nik's house and Damen knocks on the door. When Nik answers sleepily in his underwear to see Laurent standing at his door he smiles and laughs.

"Holy shit, look at you. He let you outside." He steps aside and Damen pulls Laurent in even when he tries to pull back and stay outside. He just gained the freedom to see the outdoors after so many months and now he's back in another building. His house is small, he has a couch and a tv in the living room and a tiny kitchen that makes Damen's look big. However, Nik's house does have two bedrooms. Nik looks down at himself and walks towards the hallway. "Give me a second."

"Do we have to go right back to the house when we leave here or can we go out?" Laurent asks.

"We'll talk about it later." Damen points Laurent off to the living room and he wanders off into the kitchen. Nik’s living room is smaller than Damen’s. There’s a TV against one of the walls with a large assortment of movies in the cabinet under it. Laurent sits down on the floor to thumb through them thinking back to the nights he used to spend watching whatever movies Auguste wanted to watch, even if Laurent hated them. 

“There’s not much signal out here so that’s all I have to watch.” Laurent jumps at the sound of Nik’s voice. “It’s alright, keep looking. If you ever wanted you could watch one over here.” 

“I’d like that.” Laurent smiles up at Damen who just stares down at him. He’ll never be allowed to watch a movie over here, but it’d be nice to dream that he might be allowed to. 

“How’s that kid?”

“Fine probably, I haven’t heard anything. I’m trying to give him space to settle in before I start bothering him.” Damen sits on the couch and waves Laurent over to come to sit next to him. The only reason he actually follows his directions is in hopes he can spend some more time out in the sun if he does whatever Damen wants. 

“Not what I would do but whatever.” Nik rolls his eyes and leans back against the wall since there in nowhere else to sit without squeezing in next to Laurent. “What are you doing here anyways? I was sleeping.”

“Just checking in, you haven’t been yourself recently.”

“I’m fine, leave me alone.”

“Are you having second thoughts on this? Do I need to be worried?”

“No I’m fine, I’m just sick of living in the middle of nowhere.” Damen holds up a small bag of white powder and Laurent’s heart drops seeing him have it. “What’s up with this?”

“It’s to fucking sell you dumbass, did you forget who we are?”

“Why is it half empty?” 

“I didn’t finish filling it.” Damen glares at him and drags him by the back of the arm into the kitchen. 

“I think you spilled some on the counter then.” Laurent follows behind them and sees a line of coke on the counter next to some left over from previous that must have have been there before. “What are you doing?”

“Keeping myself entertained.” 

“Are you fucking with me?” Nik just stares at him unchanged as Damen carefully scrapes the coke back into the bag. “Stop this, if not for me, for yourself. You’re better than me.”

“I’m not an addict, it was one bad night. You don’t know how to stop, I do.” Damen tosses down on the counter and grabs Laurent’s hand. 

“Damen I think you need to stay for a little while longer.”

“No, come on, it’s time to go.” Damen rushes them out of the house, tossing the bag of coke back on the counter on the way out. 

"Do we have to go back inside?" Laurent asks when they get halfway back to the house. Damen stops in his tracks and sighs.

"Can I show you something else before?"

"Of course." Damen turns in his tracks and drags him in the opposite direction. Laurent assumes they are heading to the dirt path but Damen pulls him off into the woods. They hike through the woods for twenty minutes until finally, they end up at a beach. The sand is a bright white and the water is clear and calm.

"Holy shit," Laurent lets slip out. 

"We can spend time here sometimes if you'd like."

"You know when I told you the house wasn't worth keeping a secret? This, this was worth it." Laurent walks off towards the water until it is right up to the edge of his shoes. 

"Go into the water if you want." Damen sits down in the sand and leans back on his forearms. "We can do whatever you want but let's spend some time outside today, I want to put a little color on your skin."

“What was the point of keeping this from me?” Laurent stares out into the water not being able to take his eyes off of what he’s been introduced to. 

“You were really persistent about running from me and fighting for along time. I don’t want to trap you but I need to trust you.”

“How long has it been since the day you took me?”

“I don’t know, about three and a half months.”

“Three and a half months since I’ve seen the sun. Three and a half months since you ruined my fucking life for the fourth time.”

“Fourth?”

“Once, when you kidnapped me and brought me here, once when you tried to kill me, once when you murdered my brother, and once when I met you.” Damen’s eyes drop and he nods. Laurent steps back away from the water to kick off his shoes and roll up the ends of his pants. He takes a few hesitant steps out into the cold water and just stands in bliss. “Auguste would love it here.”

“I bet he would, it’s beautiful here.” Laurent walks back away from the water and sits down in the sand near Damen. Every nice thing Laurent has been doing for Damen has just been for his own benefit. He still hates Damen for everything he’s done, he just wants to escape. Damen sits up a little and pulls his shirt over his head and tosses it to the side. Laurent just glances over at him so Damen leans over and starts unbuttoning his shirt for him. 

“What are you doing?”

“It’s hot, I told you I want you to get some sun and you’re not going to get any with a shirt like that on.” Laurent rolls his eyes and sits up enough to slip his sleeves off. 

“I’m going to burn.” Laurent jokes. 

“It’ll be alright. It’s just a little sun, you look like a ghost right now.” Damen unconsciously reaches out and touches Laurent’s chest but immediately pulls back when he feels Laurent’s muscles tighten. 

“I want to see around this area, wherever we are. Is this as far as I’m allowed to see?”

“Unfortunately. I wish I could show you more. It’s very beautiful here.” Damen stares over at Laurent who ignores him and looks out at the water. “Nik brought me out here once to calm me down when I was out of control and I didn’t understand what this place could be for. I wanted to break stuff, I wanted to hurt someone so I didn’t think I could just sit here and calm down without any of that. I get that now, I like it here a lot when I can’t calm myself down.”

“Come on, let’s go walk around.” Laurent jumps up and pulls Damen to stand with him. This is Damen’s safe place and he brought Laurent here to see it. Laurent just pulls him to walk around the beach and tries to ignore how Damen is trying to share parts of himself.

The two spend the rest of the day out in the sun. Once they hiked back to grab some food for dinner but Laurent refuses to come in the house so they ate outside. It wasn’t until it was late enough where neither of them could see very much and the bugs were starting to come out when Damen had enough.

"Come on, we need to go inside." Damen pulls Laurent but he plants his feet and refuses to move.

"Please just let me stay outside a little longer." Laurent pulls back again but Damen doesn't let go of his hand.

"I'm not going to lock you in the house. We can come back outside tomorrow. It's late, come inside."

"No." Damen gets tired of the fighting and lifts Laurent over his shouldered. 

"It's time to go to bed."

"I'm not tired." Damen laughs and puts Laurent down in the doorway of the bathroom.

"Yes you are, go get cleaned up." With a little tap, Laurent is pushed off into the bathroom to go wash off the sand stuck all over his legs from the water. When he changes he is excited to be able to wear his own clothes for bed. When Laurent comes back out Damen is already laying in bed in his boxers and t-shirt half asleep. When Laurent crawls in bed next to him Damen's head turns to face him.

"Thank you for today," Laurent says, still sitting up in bed.

"I'm glad you had a good time.” Damen mumbles. He reaches over and tries to pull Laurent down to sleep but he refuses to lay down.

“You need to talk to Nik.” 

“He’s fine, he’s not like me he knows how to control himself.” 

“Are you sure?” Damen finally opens his eyes and sits up. 

“You really want me to go check up on him don’t you?” Laurent nods and Damen groans, falling back into bed. He slides out of bed and walks over to go slide on a pair of shorts. Laurent follows around behind him and Damen lets him walk out the door outside with him. They walk in silence in the dark over to Nik, with Laurent hovering close to Damen in fear of tripping since he doesn’t know the land yet in the dark. It only takes a moment of knocking on the door for Nik to answer.

“What are you doing?” Nik groans.

“Laurent was worried about you.” Nik’s glare softens when he looks over at Laurent standing next to Damen. Laurent elbows Damen hard in the ribs and he groans. “And I wanted to make sure you were doing alright.”

“Laurent, I’m alright. You didn’t have to drag him out of bed to come to check on me.” Laurent shoves Damen out of the way and steps up to the doorway. With his glaring eyes on him, Nik blushes and glances away quickly. “I promise I’m alright, I’m going to take a few days away from here and stay with Lazar and Huet on a trip. I think I just need a change in scenery and someone else to talk to.”

“That’s a good idea, can we come in for a minute to talk.” Nik nods and lets the two come inside even if he’d rather only let Laurent in the house at the moment. “When are you leaving?”

“Few hours, Laz is supposed to be here to get me at some point I just don’t know when.” They walk in the house immediately to a mess of a kitchen.

“Jesus to you never clean in here?” Damen asks. Laurent stops in his tracks to step back and elbow him again before Nik even has the chance to notice. 

“I’ve been busy,” Nik says. “Look, it’s nice you came to check on me and all but I really need to go pack.”

“He’s trying to be nice to you.”

“Okay, Damen, why don’t you go clean up the kitchen. I’m going to go talk with Nik while he finishes packing.” Damen glares but he nods and lets him go down the hall with Nik. His room is even worse than the kitchen with clothes all over the floor and the sheets on his bed mostly ripped off. “I’m sorry about him, he’s just tired.”

“It’s fine. He’s like that most of the time anyway.” Nik picks up a few pieces of clothes off the floor and tosses them in a bag. 

“Is going with those two the best idea for you?”

“It’s better than being stuck out here.” Nik pauses for a second and sits down at the edge of his bed. 

“I’ve only met them here and I don’t know what to think of them. Are you going to feel better after you're with them?” 

“We’re going,” Nik pauses and glances away from Laurent when he realizes he can’t explain where they are going. “Away, it’s a nice place. No getting high or selling, it’s a break from all of this.”

“Good, I hope that helps.” Nik stands up and zips his bag shut. The two walk back out into the kitchen to find it almost spotless, excluding a few dishes that Damen is still washing. Angry cleaning is something Damen does a lot, it helps him calm down so this was good for him. 

“When will you be back?”

“Few days, I just need to reset before I spiral.” Damen nods and leans back against the counter. “I won’t have my phone, you’re going to be on your own for a while.”

“We’ll be alright. Just get yourself right.” Damen steps forward and pulls Nik into a hug, which to Damen is just a brotherly affection to show his support for a friend. For Nik, it was something he needed to feel like he was okay. Laurent could see it on his face over Damen’s shoulder that he didn’t want to let go. He’s scared, he’s never gone through something like this and he can't do it with his best friend. When Damen pulls back and reaches out for Laurent’s hand you can see Nik’s heart silently breaking. He knows Laurent can’t do anything about it and Nik’s never vocalized his feelings so it’s no one’s fault but his own but it still hurts. Watching Damen turn and pull Laurent out the door was heartbreaking for Nik, but he didn’t say a thing, because he’s never done anything for his own happiness.


	16. Chapter 16

“Do you want to go on a run with me?” Damen asks. Laurent looks up from his book to see Damen standing shirtless in the doorway with shorts on as if he’s already ready to go. 

“You do know I haven’t left this house in three and a half months and you did rip through my leg muscle before that. I’m not even a strong walker anymore.” Damen nods but stands his ground in the doorway. The smirk on his face grows wider the longer they stare at each other. He has a lot of energy this morning and he is ready to go burn some of it off, he just wants Laurent to come with. 

“That’s why I want to take you on a run, come on let’s strengthen that leg.” Laurent sighs and nods so Damen tosses him a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to change into. When they walk outside Laurent doesn’t expect how difficult it is going to feel to start moving. The first few steps are stiff but once they start running it feels good to move. Their run goes through the path in the woods out to the beach and by the time they get there Laurent needs a second to stop and stretch his leg. One of his thighs is significantly smaller than the other and can barely handle the stress Laurent is putting on it. 

“Fuck you, you dickhead. I hate you so much, look at my goddamn leg.” Laurent snaps, but he stretches it for a second and continues on jogging at a slower pace this time to make it easier. Damen doesn’t mind at all because he is just happy to run and spend time with Laurent. He takes the occasional snaps from Laurent when his leg hurts because he knows it’s his fault and he has no right to say anything back. They don’t get to run as much as Laurent would have liked but it still feels great to get to move. The only way Laurent will stop running is when his leg gets so tired he trips over his own feet and falls to the ground. 

“You alright?” Damen asks, barely out of breath or sweating. Laurent, on the other hand, gasps for air and is drenched in sweat. Damen kneels down in the sand and helps Laurent to his feet even as he puts all his weight into him for support. “Alright, that was a little more than you were ready for I guess. That’s alright, we can do a little more tomorrow. We’ll just work up to it, you don’t have to do everything at once.”

“But I want to be able to move.”

“I know, I’m sorry, but you’re getting there. Come on let’s get home. We’ll do more tomorrow.”  
*  
Every day for weeks they go for a run. It takes Laurent a while to get into the routine of things but as soon as he does it starts to feel amazing to be able to move his body. His leg is tight and gets tired a lot faster than the rest of him does but he tends to just push through it until it completely gives out on him and Damen is forced to stop dead in his tracks to catch him. 

In all this time, Nik didn’t come home. The few days he claimed he’d be gone turned into a few weeks so quick that Laurent barely realized it happened. Being able to go outside and actually do something made time go by a lot faster than it had been in the past few months. Nik didn’t take his phone with either so they had no way of contacting him to make sure he was still doing alright, they just had to wait it out alone and see.

The only person they really had contact with was Adrastus. Damen called one day and asked for Nicaise to come over to visit for a day to make sure he was doing okay. He had promised that he could come to visit all the time when he moved over there but Damen wanted him to get comfortable over there before he started bothering him. Adrastus seemed pleased to get the kid out of the house for a day and even asked for him to stay for a few days so he didn’t have to worry about him when the boys went on a trip with him. His welcome back to the house wasn’t as exciting as Damen expected it to be. As soon as he walked through the door he threw his stuff down on the floor and walked right past Damen. 

“Hey, Nicaise,” Laurent says. Nicaise pauses his anger momentarily to look at Laurent calmer. 

“You look different.” He mumbles, before wandering off into the next room. 

“He’s been a handful but he follows what Pallas and Isander tell him more than what I do so at least what I ask usually gets done somehow.” 

“How long is he here for then?” Damen asks. 

“Two days, Pallas was asked to go with a frequent buyer to a conference a few hours from here and bring Isander. We’re all going to sell quite a bit on this trip and I don’t want to have to worry about where Nicaise is or what trouble he’s getting in.” 

“That’s fine, he’ll be fine here.” Adrastus makes his way out and Damen turns to go find where Nicaise ran off to. He finds him standing in the living room with Laurent in the doorway looking at both of them.

“Hey, Nicaise how have you been?” Nicaise walks right up to Damen and kicks him in the shins as hard as he can. Damen flinches and turns his head to avoid swearing at him. 

“Fuck you, you promised I could come back here and visit you but you left me there with him. I hate you, I don’t want to be Adrastus’ whore anymore.” Nicaise cries out. 

“He hasn’t made you work has he?” Laurent asks, stepping in before Damen can say anything. 

“I don’t fuck strangers for money.” His cheeks flush pink and he glares at Laurent.

“Has he made you do anything?”

“He thinks I need a babysitter and he has stuff to do when the boys are working. I’ve had to watch people fuck my friends.” Nicaise spits. “And he makes me wear these ridiculous outfits, they always make comments about me in a language I don’t understand and want to touch me.”

“Has anyone ever done anything to you?” Laurent takes a step closer and Nicaise flinches back. 

“No, Pallas is good at telling people not to touch.” 

“I told you I didn’t want him to go there.” Laurent snaps at Damen. He turns his head back to face Nicaise who still refuses to look up at Damen. “He’s staying here.”

“I don’t want to live with Damen. I’d rather live with my friends than with him.” Laurent looks back down at him and Nicaise’s cheeks turn pink. “He lied to me! He’s a murderer, at least Adrastus is just a creep.” 

“Why don’t you go pick a book out and go read for a while, I need to talk to Damen.” Nicaise nods and wanders off to the bedroom where he remembers them being last time they were here. Damen keeps his eyes focused on the wall across from him because he knows as soon as he looks at Laurent he’s going to lose this argument. “Look at me.”

“No one touched him, he’s fine over there. He’s making friends, I’ll just make sure Adrastus never takes him out again.” His eyes stay locked on the wall, avoiding Laurent at all cost. 

“He’s a child! He shouldn’t have to deal with anyone trying to touch him. He can’t even understand what most of them are saying to him. Let him stay here before anything bad happens to him.” Damen glances over and sighs. “You know Adrastus won’t do anything you tell him to.”

“We’ll talk about it Laurent, I promise, just not now.” For some reason, Laurent agrees and lets the subject go even though he wants to talk about it more. He believed Damen when he said they’d talk about it more but as time drags on they never get around to talking about it again. Every time Laurent brings it up Damen shuts him down and tells him they’ll talk later but faster than he realizes it the two days have past and the morning of the day Nicaise is supposed to leave has already found its way to them.

“Damen, Nicaise needs to stay with us.” Damen glances over at Laurent and sighs. 

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“No, he’s supposed to leave today. We are talking about this now. Move him here, now.” Damen shakes his head and sits down on the edge of the bed. “He’s young and likes to talk back. He’s going to get himself hurt.”

“I can’t deal with him at the house right now. He doesn’t even like it here, he likes it with Pallas and Isander. If I tell Adrastus not to take him out anymore and we check up on Nicaise more often now then we’ll know if he’s listening or not. But I won’t make him miserable living here with me when he could have a lot more fun living with those two.”

“You remember what you let him do to me right? In a week trip where I was just supposed to watch what they do so you had some time to get your shit together. He beat me and had me almost raped. You better let us talk to Nicaise every day.” Damen flinches at Laurent’s words, hating to remember any of the things he went through. But it gets his point across enough for Damen to actually agree to it. 

“We will, it’s not going to be like what happened to you I promise. I never meant for that to happen and I know better now.” Damen gets back up and walks over to the door. “Come on, let’s go for a run.”

“What about Nicaise?”

“I’ll lock him in the bedroom, I want to run. We haven’t gone since he’s been here, I need to do something. ”

“No, why can’t he come sit outside while we run? Give him a book, I’m sure he’ll be fine sitting still, Adrastus had to have kept him locked inside this entire time.” Damen rolls his eyes but tosses running clothes at Laurent anyways. As soon as Laurent changes he hurried out to find Nicaise sitting on the couch. When he hears Laurent come in the room he flinches at first until he realizes who it is. “Do you want to come read outside while Damen and I go for a run? Damen wants to lock you in the bedroom, I’m really trying to get him to trust you.” 

“Yeah, I’ll sit outside.” Nicaise sits up quickly and hurries over to Laurent. Damen steps out into the room and Laurent nods so he carefully walks over and unlocks the door, with just a glance to Nicaise. 

“You move and you’re going back in the house, I’m not going to chase you,” Damen says. Nicaise nods and follows behind them outside to a spot on the backside of the house where Damen tells him to sit. It’s a bright and sunny spot in the grass that they can easily see from pretty much anywhere they are running. 

“I don’t plan on going anywhere, I don’t know where I am.” Nicaise flops down in his spot and Laurent pulls Damen to start running. They take off hand in hand but soon fall in rhythm with each other and their hands fall apart. Usually, their run goes through the woods to the beach but today so they can still see Nicaise they stick to running the circle of cleared land around the houses. It’s much more repetitive and boring than usual but it gets Damen moving and actually doing something. When he doesn’t get a chance to run or burn off the extra energy he has somehow then he has a hard time keeping himself under control. The entire time they run Nicaise doesn’t move a muscle. A few times he glances up and watches them run for a while but always goes right back to reading after a minute. They run for almost an hour before Damen tires himself out enough to stop running. By then, Adrastus is pulling up to the house in the same car that he took Laurent away in months before. As soon as he sees Laurent outside he seems surprised but he doesn’t say much about it. 

“You weren’t supposed to be back until tonight,” Damen yells as Adrastus walks closer. 

“Yeah well I’m here early, are you busy with something?” Adrastus snaps. 

“It’s fine, I didn’t know if something happened.”

“Nicaise, come on go grab your stuff,” Adrastus yells. Nicaise stands up and quickly hurries inside to go get his stuff. In Adrastus’ car, Pallas sits in the front seat almost past out. Adrastus snaps Laurent out of his gaze towards Pallas when he finally starts talking to him. “I see he finally let you get some sun. The color looks good on you.”

“Can I go talk to them?” Laurent asks Damen. 

“No, they’re tired leave them alone.” Adrastus snaps. Pallas’ head perks up a little and he smiles as soon as he sees Laurent outside. He gives a small wave and lets his head flop back to the side again. “You remember Berenger don’t you Laurent? The boys were busy with some of his friends, Pallas is just working through some of the party drugs. I still wish you would have stayed with me, Berenger asked for you specifically. There are plenty of people that would be interested in getting their hands on you.”

“That’s enough, Laurent go inside.” Laurent glares at Damen but he turns and walks back to the house. When he opens the door he runs right into Nicaise standing frozen right inside the door. 

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you alright?”

“I don’t want to go back over there. He gets mad really easy, he hits them. What if I do something to make him upset?” Laurent grabs him and pulls him into a hug to try and calm him down but Nicaise trembles in his arms. He doesn’t normally like to show how scared he is around Damen so this is really the only time Laurent has to see this from him. When Laurent pulls him back Nicaise quickly wipes the tear that was beginning to form in his eye. “I don’t want to get hurt, I’m scared.”

“Listen, if he starts doing something that scares you, steal his phone. He always leaves his phone on the counter when he does anything. You call Damen and tell him its an emergency and we will come to get you right away alright? Everything is going to be alright.” Nicaise nods and tries to shake the fear from himself. He wipes his face again and blinks his eyes clean so he doesn’t look as frightened as he did just a moment ago. 

“Damen made you live over there for a while didn’t he?” Nicaise asks before he walks away. 

“Yes, he did. So I understand why you’re so afraid of him. I didn’t want you to live there, I promise.”

“Did Adrastus ever hit you?” Nicaise’s voice gets softer than it ever has. The thought of Adrastus hitting Laurent is scary to him and he doesn’t want it to be real. 

“Yeah, pretty bad.” Nicaise nods and slowly turns around to face the door. “Just one phone call and we’ll come to get you, I promise.”


	17. Chapter 17

“What’s this?” Laurent walks into the bedroom to find the table set with two plates and the lights dimmed low. 

“Dinner, come sit down with me.” Laurent slowly creeps into the room and sits down across the table from Damen. Damen’s eyes stay locked on Laurent waiting for his approval for how romantic this is or something but Laurent just picks up his fork and starts eating. “I wanted to do something nice for you.” 

“This is nice, thank you.” Damen nods and lets his head drop to look down at his plate. Things between the two of them still aren’t as good as Damen would like them to be but there isn’t really a chance he will be able to get them much better at this point. The can go out together and enjoy each other’s company since there are no other people around, but that is about as far as Laurent really wants to go at this point. Damen, however, still wants more. He wants to feel something again, he wants to be close, but he’s never going to get that out of Laurent. “I’m worried about Nik.”

“What?” Damen asks.

“I’m worried about him, it’s been weeks since we’ve heard from him.” It had been almost five weeks since Nik left that night, and almost two since Nicaise left. The days seem to stretch on with no one else around to talk to but Damen. Going outside helps pass the time but it's still nice having other people come around the house. Honestly, Laurent misses those horrendous parties Nik used to have at Damen’s house, at least then he could see other people. 

“He’s doing fine, don’t get yourself worked up over him.” Damen rolls his eyes and puts his head down to ignore Laurent, but he doesn’t stop. 

“How do you know that? What if he’s not doing any better?”

“Because I’ve been checking up on him and he’s doing fine, alright? You really think I just let him go off on his own like that?” Damen snaps. “I’ve been talking to Lazar since he left to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid and he’s doing a lot better now.” 

“You’ve been keeping an eye on him the whole time? I thought he was trying to disappear from you.”

“That man can’t hide anything from me. I know him better than he knows himself, I knew exactly where they would go.” Laurent nods slowly, think about everything that he’s just been told. “Look I would have told you, I just didn’t think I should since he was trying to disappear.”

“I don’t think you know everything about him.”

“What?” 

“You said you know him better than he knows himself, I don’t think you know everything about him.” Laurent is pretty sure that Damen has no idea about Nik’s feeling for him because of the way he acts. He’s never shown any signs of knowing, and if he did know he would definitely use it to his advantage. 

“Try me,” Damen smirks. 

“Nevermind, just eat your food.” The two go back to eating until Damen gets a phone call and has to step out of the room. By the time he comes back his face has gone from happy and relaxed to serious and nervous. 

"Laurent go get in the car," Damen says. 

"What's wrong?" Laurent quickly stands up as Damen tosses his shoes towards him. Damen puts on his shoes so fast that Laurent knows there’s something to actually be worried about. 

“Something happened, Nicaise just called me. We need to go get him now.” Laurent’s stomach drops in fear and he freezes but Damen grabs his wrist and pulls him along until they are both rushing out of the house. 

"What? What happened?" They both rush out to Nik's truck and hurry off. This is the first time Laurent has driven anywhere since the last time he went to Adrastus’, but that time he was wearing a blindfold.

"I don't know, Nicaise was talking fast on the phone but something happened and when he woke up Pallas had been locked in the bathroom and something bad happened."

"I told you we shouldn't have let him go there."

“Yeah well it’s too late for that now isn’t it?” As soon as they get there they both jump out of the car and run inside. 

The two burst in the door and rush inside to find Isander sobbing in the floor over Pallas’ broken body. Adrastus paces around the room panicking while Nicaise just sits against the wall right outside the bathroom door, Adrastus’ phone broken by his feet. 

"Hey Damen, look it was an accident. He was fine when I put him in there." Adrastus takes a step back but Damen is already on top of him, punching him hard in the face. Laurent hurries over to Isander and Pallas on the floor. Isander sobs loudly but Laurent reaches out to check for a pulse, but feels nothing through Pallas’ cold bruised skin. 

"Laurent, he's dead." The shock of the words makes Laurent recoil away from Pallas slightly. He already knew that himself, but hearing it out loud felt wrong.

"What happened?" Laurent manages.

"I don't know, Pallas went out with Adrastus and when they came back I heard yelling so I came out to check on them. I helped Pallas and he said a man took the product from him and hurt him really bad and refused to pay. I guess Adrastus got mad because he beat him and locked him in the bathroom but when he went to let him out we found him like this." Isander sobs into Laurent's shoulder and he has no idea how to feel. Pallas was his friend and now he lays dead next to them. Adrastus had done the same thing to Laurent not too long ago, this easily could have been him that died instead. He remembers the feeling of the cold tiles against his skin as he was desperate to find some form of warmth and relief from the pain. One kick too hard could have killed Laurent, especially with how much longer he spent in that room. When sitting next to Pallas in the bathroom Laurent was locked in gets to be too much for Laurent to handle he pulls back from Isander so he can go get Damen. As soon as he stands up Isander throws himself back over Pallas’ body while Laurent has to shake off the fear coursing through him and walk out to the other room to get Damen. 

"Damen, we need to go," Laurent says to Damen who has Adrastus pinned to the ground, bloodied and lifeless. Damen lands another punch and Laurent has to grab his arm. "Damen, now."

"Get Pallas out of the bathroom." Damen mumbles. Laurent stands motionless next to him even when Damen angrily turns to face him. "Now!"

"You can't expect me to move a body." Adrastus tries to roll over to sit up but Damen just presses his heal into Adrastus' temple so he can't move.

"He was your friend, I have something to take care of but I need to have Pallas out of the way first." Laurent slowly makes his way back to Isander and just stands motionless for a moment to let everything sink in. Once he gets himself calmed down enough to handle it, with the help of Isander they get Pallas out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. A few minutes later Damen comes walking in the kitchen with Adrastus being dragged behind by the back of his shirt. "You want to know what it feels like? Let's see how you fucking like it."

Damen throws Adrastus into the bathroom and slams the door, locking it behind him. Through all of this Nicaise hasn't moved from his spot just outside the bathroom door. His knees are pulled up to his chest and he stares off at the floor in front of him like he’s terrified to let his eyes look anywhere else. Isander cowers behinds, Laurent, when Damen turns to face them with bruised and bloodied knuckles. He drops to his knees in front of Pallas and cautiously wipes a streak of drying blood that dripped from his lip some time ago.

"We need to go." Laurent eventually says to get things moving. Damen nods and picks up Pallas. Nicaise still sits with his knees pulled up to his chest staring at the floor in front of him. Laurent slowly walks over and kneels down in front of him and he flinches as soon as he’s touched. “Hey, come on, we need to go. We’re all going back to Damen’s house, okay?”

Isander reaches out and gets Nicaise to stand up and cling on to the side of his arm. Isander himself still clings onto Laurent as they make their way outside. While Isander might fear Damen, at the moment he would have followed along wherever Damen brought Pallas' body. The two had been together for years and this was the hardest thing he has had to deal with over the years. In the truck, there's no other place to put Pallas so Damen puts him on the seat in the back with the two boys. "I'm sorry about this you two, this is the only place I can put him."

Nicaise’s eyes grow wide as soon as he sees Pallas’ face laying in Isander’s lap. He had been avoiding coming near Pallas the entire time Laurent had been there so he’s not sure if Nicaise had even seen him yet. Tears well up in Nicaise’s eyes and he slides as far against the door away from Pallas as he can get himself, but he never takes his eyes off of him. 

“Hey, Nicaise it’s alright you don’t have to look at him. Do you want to sit up here instead?” Laurent asks. Nicaise’s eyes still refuse to leave Pallas but he gives Laurent a small shake of his head. As soon as Damen gets in the car they take off. Isander’s focus stays on Pallas in his lap instead of the terrified Nicaise next to him, leaving it up to Laurent to figure out what to do. “Nicaise, don’t look at him if it scares you.”

“Please don’t leave me, Pallas.” Isander sobs. Isander sobs hard and lets his tears fall on Pallas. When they pull up outside of the house Damen and Laurent jump out of the truck right away but the boys in the back refuse to move even after Damen opens the door.

"Isander, come inside. We will bury him in the morning." Damen holds out a hand but Isander flinches back so Laurent pushes him out of the way.

"Let Damen take him, we can bury him in the morning. You two need to sleep." Isander nods and lets go of Pallas's shirt. 

“Go inside, I’ll be back in a minute.” Damen unlocks the house for them and locks the door behind them so he can take Pallas’ body somewhere it won’t have to be seen in the house. 

The two creep in the house behind Laurent as if they are terrified they might see Adrastus again. He's traumatized them so much that even though neither of them has seen Damen do anything violent, excluding today, they are both terrified of him.

"You two should get cleaned up, you have a little blood on you." Laurent escorts the two down the hallway to the bedroom. He finds clothes for both of the boys and then leaves them alone in the bedroom. By the time he walks out of the bedroom Damen is back in the house and standing in the kitchen. 

"I hate him, Pallas didn't deserve that." Damen leans over the sink and just shakes his head. "What are you going to do with him?"

"Nik will be here in an hour." Damen refuses to look up at Laurent and keeps his eyes directed down.

"What does that mean?" His fingers tighten around the edge of the sink in anger. 

"That means," Damen pauses and looks up to Laurent, his jaw tight. "I'll take care of it as soon as Nik gets here."

"Don't do anything stupid."

"Laurent, he killed someone over half an ounce of cocaine. He beat him, if he was alive when he went into the bathroom then it would have been a painful death. That kid was raped and then robbed and that asshole blamed him."

"Just don't tell me about what you do."

“You don’t want to know how I kill the man who would have had you fucked by any man who was willing to pay him? The one that made your friend suffer a horribly painful death over something that wasn’t his fault.” Damen stands up straight as he talks and gets closer to Laurent as he talks. It's intimidating to stare up at him when he's this angry but Laurent taking a few steps back doesn’t seem to stop him. Suddenly the boys walk down the hall hand in hand, interrupting Damen’s intimidation, and forcing him to step back. 

“Hey, how are you feeling guys?” Isander shakes his head and Nicaise just stares down at the floor in front of him. “Nicaise?”

“He’s in shock,” Damen says. 

“They should try and get some sleep, I’ll get them all settled in if you want to go do what you need to do,” Laurent says, trying to wave Damen away.

"Just sit with them, I'll get some blankets and stuff together." Damen walks off to the bedroom and Laurent walks them into the living room and sits holding Isander and Nicaise close. It takes Damen a while to get what he needs together and soon enough Isander falls asleep laying against Laurent's arm with Nicaise asleep in Isander's lap.

"I don't want to wake them," Laurent whispers when Damen walks in the room.

"You need to sleep to, come on." Damen lightly shakes Isander and he jumps awake in shock. "Shh, it's alright. It's time to go to bed. Laurent needs to get up. I want to get you and Nicaise comfortable."

"Okay, sorry." Isander mumbles. He carefully shakes Nicaise awake but even when he wakes up he clings on to Isander.

"There's another couch if you want it Nicaise."

"No," he whines and grabs Isander more. Isander nods and finds a way to arrange himself with Nicaise cuddled to him.

“The bedroom is right down the hall if you need anything,” Laurent says before walking away and shutting the lights out. 

“Laurent,” Isander calls. Laurent stops and waves Damen off to the bedroom so he can talk to Isander without any distractions. He walks over and kneels down next to the couch to see Isander looking over at him and Nicaise’s wide eyes staring up from under the blanket. “What’s going to happen to us? I don’t want to leave Nicaise, please don’t let him do that to us.” 

“I don’t know what he’s going to do but I promise I’ll fight as hard as I can to make sure you two stay together. Just try to get some sleep now, you both had a tough day.”

“Thank you,” Isander mumbles quietly. Laurent stands back up and wanders down the hall to the bedroom. Damen glances up at Laurent and watches his every move as he changes and gets ready for bed. It’s creepy how focused on Laurent his eyes are but he just does what he wants to do. 

“What did he want?” Damen asks.

“He wanted to know what was going to happen to him and to make sure he wouldn’t get separated from Nicaise.”

“He can stay with Nicaise if he wants,” Damen says flatly. Damen’s eyes still stay on Laurent’s face as he crawls in bed. There’s no other reaction out of Damen though, he just glances over until he gets bored of looking and slides to lay down in bed.

“You don’t have to do this, have someone else handle it, please.” Laurent doesn’t know what else to do so he crawls in Damen’s lap and runs a hand up over his chest to try and get his attention, but he barely even reacts. “Damen, don’t do this to me. I’m not ready to die, those boys need me now.”

“I’m not going to kill you.” Damen lightly runs a hand up through Laurent’s hair, pulling it all over to one side to get it out of his face. “He killed your friend, he deserves to die.”

“I don’t want you to fall back into your old habits again. Please, don’t.” Laurent leans down and pulls Damen into a kiss. He kisses back, but it’s not as needy as he normally gets when Laurent lets them kiss. His hand stays in Laurent’s hair but he doesn’t pull Laurent back for more when he pulls away. Laurent doesn’t know what else to do so he just flops down on top of Damen to sleep. “How long will you be gone?”

“I have to dig a grave for Pallas still, I don’t think I’m coming back to bed once I leave.” Damen’s hand rubs up and down Laurent’s back to soothe him but a few tears still sneak out and onto Damen’s shirt. He’s terrified of what’s going to come out of Damen if he does this again but still sick to his stomach that one of his friends is dead. That could have easily been him if Adrastus would have been a little angrier that day. Damen doesn’t even notice though because Laurent keeps quiet and just lays still on his chest. Eventually, he gets sleepy enough from the repetitiveness of Damen’s hand and the sound of his heartbeat that he falls into a light sleep still on Damen’s chest. 

Exactly an hour later like planned, the bedroom door cracks open and Nik peeks inside. Laurent’s eyes pop open from just that quiet noise but he doesn’t move. Damen cautiously slips out from under Laurent leaving him sleeping alone in bed.

"Stay out of the living room, those two are jumpy," Damen says to Nik on his way out. Laurent stays in bed and just listens to the quiet mumble of the two talking outside the bedroom door before he hears the front door open and close as Damen makes his way out. It takes Laurent a while before he gets the energy to get himself out of bed to go talk to Nik. He could just stay in bed and wait to see him until tomorrow, but this might be his only time to sit alone and talk with him. 

“Hey, Laurent,” Nik says as soon as he sees him walk out into the kitchen. Nik sits in one of the seats at the kitchen table with his phone positioned right next to him like he’s waiting, just in case. 

“Tell me he’s not doing what I think he is,” Laurent says. Nik just sighs and shakes his head. “I don’t want anyone else to die.” 

“I tried to stop him, he doesn’t listen very well when it comes to situations like this. Pallas didn’t deserve that, and Adrastus deserves what’s coming to him but Damen can’t do this.” Nik sighs and slams a fist down on the table in frustration.

“Come in here, I don’t want to wake them up.” Laurent ushers Nik into the bedroom and leaves the door cracked behind them so if Damen comes back he doesn’t get suspicious. The two sit down at the table where some of last night’s dishes still sit. 

“This is a touchy subject for Damen for a lot of reasons,” Nik mumbles, setting his phone down on the table in front of him once again. 

“Why?” 

“Well, the way obvious is that could have been you. I know Adrastus hurt you, and what happened to Pallas could have easily happened to you too. I don’t know if he’ll ever admit it but it’s scary to think he could have sent you away to die. If he can’t admit that to himself I know at least somewhere in his mind that’s one of the reasons he’s so upset.”

“What else?” 

“It’s not my place to say.” Nik hesitates and tries to turn away but Laurent reaches out to stop him. 

“Tell me Nik, you know he never will.”

“You tell him I told you and I’m a dead man. But he was abused by a man like Adrastus when he was younger.” Nik pauses for a second and takes a long look down at his hands to think. “We sold for a man much older than us, who gave Damen a place to stay when things got bad at home. Everything was fine at first when we’d run into trouble he’d get upset but he didn’t take it out on us. But Damen met up with a buyer one night who decided they didn’t want to pay anymore and they beat the shit out of him. When he made it back, the man we sold for decided he had enough of our bullshit that night and almost killed Damen over it. We were just kids, we were still small selling to adult men who could easily kick our asses whenever things went wrong, it wasn’t fair. That easily could have been me if it would have been me selling to that person the night he got hurt. I blame myself sometimes because I didn’t help him.”

“How old were you?” Is all Laurent can manage to say. Thinking about a version of Damen before he was a killer is hard to imagine. 

“Seventeen, the reason Damen is as strong as he is is because of that night, so no one else could hurt him like that again.”

“You were kids, you can’t blame yourself.” Nik is innocent in this story, despite what Damen has done it isn’t Nik’s fault. He’s done some bad things in his life, including helping Damen avoid the police but he hasn’t murdered innocent people like Damen so he doesn’t deserve to feel blame over something like this. 

“I know, but then I remember that he killed all those people and I wonder if any of this has anything to do with it.” 

“Maybe, but maybe not. There are a lot of things that could have caused him to be the way he is.” Nik nods and sighs. “How have you been? You’ve been gone a while.”

“I’m doing better, getting away from Damen was good for me.” Nik smiles. “Sorry if that meant leaving you too.”

“What have you been up to?”

“Enjoying life away from here and pretending I’m not wrapped up in Damen’s messy life. Really I just spent some time at a house with Lazar and Huet while they did whatever it is they needed to do.”

“Are you doing better now?”

“Yeah, a lot better now. I feel refreshed I guess, Lazar and Huet gave me space to just spend time alone even if they were selling.” Nik smiles as he goes on talking about all the things he gets to do on his time away. None of it is anything exciting to the average person, but its stuff that Nik never really let himself enjoy before so he relaxed and did them for once. He went to diners, the movies, and other small things like that. 

The two stayed up through the night talking even as Laurent could feel his eyes growing heavy, he didn’t want to leave Nik up by himself. Also, he enjoys talking to someone new for once so every minute feels great to him. 

When Damen walks in the room hours later and sees Nik and Laurent up talking, they both freeze. Neither one knows what to expect out of him but he just looks at them and keeps walking. 

“I need to shower before they wake up. This is going to be a long day”


	18. Chapter 18

"Nicaise, you need to eat something," Damen calls, but he stays at his spot on the couch. 

Laurent stops what he’s doing in the kitchen and walks out into the living room. Nicaise sits with a blanket pulled up around his body staring off at the floor in front of him. 

“Hey, I don’t care if you don’t feel like it right now, you need to come eat. Come sit with Isander and eat breakfast.” When Laurent sits down next to Nicaise he’s received with a glare, but at least his eyes moved to look at him. “Can you talk to me? Tell me what’s up?”

“I can’t eat, I feel sick.” Nicaise finally mumbles. “I’m going to throw up.”

“Do you think you’re sick or do you think it has to do with what happened yesterday?” Laurent asks. 

“I don’t know, probably yesterday.” 

“We all feel sick, but you need to eat.”

“I’m not ready to see him again, and I don’t want to go anywhere with Adrastus. If I get up that means I have to leave here, I don’t want to go it’s safe here.” 

“Just one step at a time, you don’t need to worry about any of that stuff right now. Let’s just go eat some breakfast with Isander for now, alright?” Nicaise finally nods and gets up with Laurent. The two walk into the kitchen together and Isander perks up slightly as soon as he sees Nicaise. 

“Nice to see you finally decided to join us,” Damen says from his spot standing by the counter. Laurent gets Nicaise to sit down across from Isander and sets a plate in front of him. Damen makes another plate for Laurent and sets it near him but Laurent just looks up at him. 

“Damen, come here.” Laurent grabs Damen’s hand and pulls him off to the bedroom. He seems calm compared to last night but everyone is still on edge because of what today is. “Please don’t let them see Pallas’ face again. Nicaise can’t handle that.”

“He’ll be covered up when they see him I’m no idiot,” Damen says. “His body is too mangled to be presentable.”

“They keep asking if they’re going back with Adrastus I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell them, I can’t tell them you murdered him no matter how much they’d probably be fine with it.”

“Just tell them they won’t be going back with him ever again.” Laurent nods.

“Excuse me, sir,” Isander says, quietly knocking on the door. Damen’s eyes flicker up from Laurent and over to Isander standing scared by the door. “May I ask you a question?”

“What’s up?” Damen asks. 

“Well, Pallas was always a fan of makeup and I know Adrastus really messed up his face. Is there any way I could get his makeup from our house so I could clean him up before we bury him?” 

“Yeah, if that’s what you want.” Isander smiles and quietly thanks him before making his way out. “I need to call Nik, go eat breakfast.” 

Laurent heads back out into the kitchen and watches the boys eat their breakfast. Nicaise eats slow and careful, still afraid he might make himself sick. Isander mostly just watches Nicaise too since he got such a head start on eating this morning. When Damen comes back out of the bedroom and storms out into the kitchen. Less than an hour later after they had cleaned up the kitchen and Nicaise had crawled back under his blanket on the couch, Nik walks in the front door. Which Isander has met him before, Nicaise never has but neither of them trusts him. They both scoot away from him in fear of what he’s here for. 

“Nicaise, come on. Let’s get you showered, you’ll feel better after.” Nicaise shakes his head so Damen just lifts him up with the blanket still wrapped around him and carries him off to the bedroom. 

“Laurent? I brought all the makeup that I could find.” Isander sits up and nods. “Give me a minute, I’ll bring him outside for you. I don’t want to move his body around too much.”

“Thank you.” Isander mumbles. Nik hands his bag to Laurent and walks out the door again. When the door opens again Laurent has to pull Isander to head outside. 

“I’ll stay out of your way,” Nik says. The sight of Pallas’ body laid out on a white sheet in the shade of a tree next to Nik’s house makes them both freeze up. Walking up to him Laurent’s stomach turns, his skin is pale with his cheeks sunken in like his brother’s was. The bruises on his face are darker than they were yesterday now with his paler skin. Isander drops to his knees next to him but Laurent stays standing next to him for a while. 

“Oh Pallas, look at you. I know I’m not as good at this as you are but I don’t want this to be the last way Nicaise remembers you. He’s so young, I think you’re the first person he’s ever seen who…” Isander won’t let himself even say that he died. He gets to work covering his skin with the right colors for color correcting bruises and then a thick layer of foundation over top of that. Laurent has no idea how to do any of it so he just helps out where he can by handing Isander things he needs and being there for support. When they finish he looks almost alive and normal except the lace shirt he was wearing shows off some of the dark bruises on his chest and is torn down the front.

“I’ll get him one of my shirts to wear, it’s not his style but it will cover up what happened.” 

“I think he would be happy with that.” Laurent lets Nik know what he’s doing before he hurries back to the house. Thankfully, they had been doing laundry the night they got the call so one of his shirts is easy enough to get out of the dryer without going in the bedroom and letting Nicaise find out what they are doing. Laurent hurries back outside with the shirt in hand finding Isander mumbling quietly to him, tears streaming down his face. The process of putting a shirt on Pallas, after he has already been dead for this long was difficult. They have to fight to get it on his and once they do they realize they’ve already made a mess of his hair so it’s pointless to try and do it again. 

“Alright, come on. It’s time for you to go inside and take a shower. Nicaise is going to start wondering why it’s taking so long for you to take your turn.” Isander nods and dries his tears before they go inside. In the bedroom they find Nicaise sitting on the bed reading a book, showered but wrapped in his blanket again, and Damen at the table. “Damen you go ahead and do what you need to do. I can watch them.”

“I’ll be right back,” Damen kisses the top of Laurent’s head out of reflex and walks out of the room, locking the door behind him. 

“I don’t want to be locked in here,” Nicaise says in a panic as soon as he realizes the door is locked. “Make him come back, he can’t leave us in here.”

“It’s okay, it’s just until Isander is done with his shower. We’ll be alright in here.” Laurent says, swallowing deep as he himself also feels the room closing in on him. He walks over and sits down on the edge of the bed to be closer to Nicaise while they talk.

“I don’t want to see Pallas, Damen said I need to.” 

“I would never make you do anything I didn’t think that you could handle. I promise it’s not going to be that bad, and we’ll all be right there for you if you get scared okay?” Nicaise nods but frowns and hides in the blanket. “Do you still love Damen?”

“That’s a very strange question for someone your age to be asking. Why do you want to know?”

“Damen’s in love with you, well based on what I think love is. My parents were never in love, I had only heard about it in books. But he tried to kill you and he made you live with Adrastus once. How could you ever love him after everything? But I see some of those same feelings Damen has in you too, they aren’t as strong but they’re there.”

“I don’t love him, but I want to survive so I have to trust that he’s not going to hurt me.” Laurent sighs and climbs under the blankets, pulling Nicaise to cuddle close to him. “I see the fear in your eyes when he comes near you. I won’t let anyone hurt you again, okay?”

“You can’t promise that, what if Damen sends me away again?”

“It’s like you said, he loves me. Damen will do what I tell him to do.” The bathroom door opens up and Isander walks out to see Laurent and Nicaise curled up in the bed. Laurent reaches out a hand and motions for him to come to join so Isander quickly hurries over and climbs in next to Laurent. “Neither one of you are going to get hurt again, I promise you that.”

“Thank you, Laurent.” Isander mumbles. When the bedroom door opens up Damen stops at the door at the sight of Laurent curled up with the two boys. He has to take a moment to remind himself that Nicaise is just a boy and Isander just lost a loved one before he snaps and says something stupid. He can feel the heat burning on his cheeks so he clears his throat and tries to keep himself composed.

"Are you two ready to bury Pallas?" The boys both nod and follow Damen and Laurent outside. Nik figured out what was going on and decided to join them but stands far enough away to not make the boys uncomfortable. Next to a deep hole in the ground lays Pallas wrapped in a sheet so they can no longer see how bad his body is. "I figured you wouldn't want me to do this without you."

"Thank you."

“Are you ready to see him?” Damen asks. Isander nods but Nicaise backs himself up into Laurent’s chest. He starts hyperventilating almost immediately and turns to hide his face. 

“Hey, it’s alright. You can do this, I want you to see him one last time. I don’t want what you saw before to be your last memory of him. We’ll do it together alright?” Nicaise nods but the tears streaming down his face show just how scared he is. Laurent turns his back around to face Pallas and Damen slowly peels the sheet back to show his face. The skill of the makeup that Isander put on makes Pallas look almost as if he is just asleep. Nicaise’s eyes dart back and forth over his face, looking for the bruises that were once there. “Isander cleaned him up this morning, we didn’t want you to remember him with all those bruises.”

“Please do it,” Isander says. Damen nods and covers Pallas’ face back up and prepare’s the sheet so he can be lowered into the ground. 

"Nik, can you help me?" Nik steps forward and helps Damen carefully lower Pallas into the ground. When Damen tosses the first shovel of dirt into the hole over his body, Isander turns his head away and leans into Laurent's shoulder. Both of the boys cry into Laurent’s chest, while Laurent just has to stand silently taking it all in. Pallas was his friend too, this hurts a lot for him too. But these two boys have been through a lot and they need someone to lean on right now and Laurent needs to be strong so they can feel safe. With only one shovel it takes a while to finish filling in his grave. By the end, both boys have stopped crying but still cling on to Laurent. When Damen is done Laurent has to basically drag the two back to the house. 

“Do you need anything?” Laurent asks Isander and Nicaise. Both of them shake their head but Isander glances around at Nik and Damen standing by the doors. 

"Am I going back with Adrastus?" Isander asks.

"No, no one’s going with him ever again. I think you're both moving in with me." Nik says, stepping forward. 

"I don't know you." Nicaise spits, backing up towards Damen. Damen may be violent and unpredictable but, in his mind, Damen is the only thing familiar in this strange place. Last time he got sent to live with some strange man, he made friends and one of them got murdered for nothing at all.

"Isander is coming with you and I live right next door so you can see Damen and Laurent every day." Nik kneels down in front of Nicaise but he yanks himself back to hide behind Damen’s arm. "There isn't enough room at Damen's place for you."

"I'll sleep on the couch."

"What kind of room is that? Where's your privacy? I have an extra bedroom, you and Isander can share it alright?"

"I don't care about having my own room," Nicaise says, less forceful this time. "I didn't have one at home."

"So what do you like? I have a TV, I can get movies for you to watch. And I'm sure Laurent will let you borrow his books if you want to." Nicaise looks at Nik less angry but still not quite convinced that everything is going to be alright with him. "Plus, there's a beach not very far from here that I'll take you to if you want."

"I've never been to the beach." Nik smiles when Nicaise doesn't frown at him anymore.

"Then I'll have to take you there soon." Nicaise fights off the smile growing on his face and nods to Nik. "And look at these clothes, we'll have to get some that fit you better, how does that sound?"

"Adrastus gave me clothes for a whore and those fit me."

"You tell me what clothes you want to wear and I'll get them for you, is that better?" Nicaise nods and now it was time for Isander. Nik stands back up and turns to Isander standing close by. "I'm not going to make you work anymore, okay?"

"Thank you, sir. You're very kind."

"You don't need to call me sir, my name is Nik."

"Thank you, Nik."

"Is there anything special you want? I want to do my best to make you comfortable."

"Will I be allowed to visit Pallas' grave?"

"Of course, you can visit him whenever you want." Isander smiles softly, it’s a sad thing to do but he’s happy to be able to visit his friend whenever he needs. 

“Pallas would have liked you.” Nik doesn’t know what to say back to that so he just nods a little and gives Isander a moment of silence. 

“Why don’t we go show you your room?” Nik asks. Nicaise desperately looks back to Laurent in fear of leaving again and they all notice right away. “Hey, don’t worry, I’m sure Laurent can come with right Damen?”

“That’s fine.” Damen follows along behind as they all walk over to Nik’s house. Nicaise and Isander take their time looking around trying to figure out where they are. Even though Nicaise has been here a few times before, everything feels so new to him now that he’s actually moving to Nik’s place. As they walk inside the boys stay close to Laurent. Nik waves them along to the bedroom and Laurent follows so they will too, Damen, however, makes himself comfortable in the kitchen. 

“I know it’s not much, but at least it’s a room of your own,” Nik says. There’s a queen size bed in the middle of the room with a dresser off to the side by the window. A small closet in the corner has spare blankets and things stuffed in the top. 

“Thank you.” Isander mumbles. 

“Nicaise, why don’t you and I go look at the movies I have so you can pick out something to watch tonight.” Nicaise tries to hide his smile just like before but this time he doesn’t do as good. 

“So, what do you think of him?” Laurent asks, sitting down on the bed next to where Isander stands frozen.

“He seems nice.”

“He’ll take care of you, he’s a good guy.” Isander sits down next to Laurent and stares down at the floor. “It’s still weird to think he’s gone.” 

“I know, I wish I could at least talk to him one more time. I wish Adrastus wouldn’t have overreacted like he did.”

“Adrastus knew that might happen to him, the buyer was being really different to us lately and that call came at a strange time. He should have known what was going to happen to Pallas.” Isander quickly wipes his tears away and clenches his teeth to try and keep more from coming. 

“Do I know who did it to him?” Laurent asks. When Isander nods Laurent sits frozen in shock for a moment. “Who did it?”

“Berenger.” Laurent’s heart drops in anger and he can’t help but stand up and walk into the other room. Nik looks up from the movies now spread out on the floor in front of Nicaise and him and quickly stands to make his way into the bedroom where Laurent just ran from. Laurent, on the other hand, makes his way into the kitchen and paces back and forth in front of Damen taking deep breaths to keep himself calm. 

“What’s wrong?” Damen asks. 

“The man that hurt Pallas, I met him.” Laurent stops and looks up at Damen with frustration bubbling in his chest. Damen’s eyes grow wide and he takes a half step back into the counter in shock. “He was nice to him, he really liked Pallas.”

“That happens sometimes.”

“I want to kill him.” 

“I know, me too it’s alright.” He reaches out to pull Laurent into a hug but he shakes his head and steps back. 

“No, Damen. You’re not getting me. Get me in a goddamn hotel room with that man I have some things to say to him.”


	19. Chapter 19

“Hell no,” Damen says. There’s no yelling, no anger in his voice, just an answer. 

“I need to see him. After what he did to Pallas, he deserves this.” Damen shakes his head and grabs him by the wrist. 

“We’re going home.” He tries to pull Laurent towards the door but Laurent plants his feet and pulls back.

“Damen, stop.” Laurent snaps, loud enough to grab the attention of Nicaise and Nik who is just walking down the hall. 

“Everything okay?” Nik asks. 

“Berenger is the one that hurt Pallas, I want to talk to him.” Nik nods and looks between the two waiting to see the problem. He doesn’t want to have these two yelling around the boys who are still trying to settle in. “I want to talk to him.”

“You just told me to put you in a hotel room with him, you want to kill him.” 

“Laurent no,” Nik adds in.

“It’s not like you’d let me go by my fucking self anyway. If you’re there you’ll see me not kill him.”

“Do you even know where you met him before? Because I don’t know where he goes.”

“It was a fancy hotel. The rooms were really nice and big. Pallas and I went in a back door and Adrastus had to get dressed up to sit downstairs with some people and do something.” Damen’s eyes grow wide and he shakes his head. 

“I can’t go there.” 

“Why not?”

“Yes that place is known for prostitution and gambling but they have police there all the time. And everyone there would snitch to the police for a few extra dollars, I can not be there.” 

“Then have Nik take me, please, just let me talk to him.” Laurent holds on to Damen’s hand so he can’t run away anywhere. 

“The kids just got here, I can’t leave them.” Nik turns around to look at Nicaise who holds up a movie for him to look at. “I like it, why don’t you go ask what Isander thinks and see how he’s doing?”

“What are you guys whispering about?” Nicaise asks, walking over to join them in the room so Laurent drops Damen’s hand. 

“Nothing important, go see how Isander is doing, I think he needs a friend.” Nicaise reluctantly nods and walks away down the hall. “No offense Damen, but you freak them out.” 

“I know I do.”

“He doesn’t meet up until late anyway, they will both be asleep. Just do what Nik does for me and sit out here just in case.” Damen stares down at Laurent like he’s thinking it over but Nik still doesn’t seem convinced. 

“You really want to do this don’t you?”

“Please.” Damen sighs and nods. Nik groans but when Damen tells him to do something he goes along with it.  
*  
“Damen, I need your help.” Damen looks up from the bed and walks over to the bathroom. He helps lace up the back of his shirt and puts on the robe. He puts on the gold wristbands that wrap up his arms he wore last time he met with Berenger. “Can I take off your necklace? I don’t want him to break it.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” Damen carefully takes it off his neck and lays it on the counter. He leans down and presses a kiss into the side of his neck. 

“I have something new to give you.” Damen pulls out a small silver chain with a little diamond on it. He wraps it around Laurent’s neck and it is a simple choker. He closes it but takes much longer than he should, pulling out a pair of pliers, doing something to it in the back. He holds Laurent still by pressing him into the counter when Laurent tries to fidget away. Laurent spins it around to see that Damen closed it off so he can’t take it off. “Marking what’s mine.”

“Ridiculous, you just put a fucking collar on me.” Laurent rolls his eyes but stands still when Damen presses kisses into the side of his neck again. Hands know better than to wander but Laurent has to smack him away when he tries to leave a mark. “Don’t do that shit, especially tonight.”

“I’m sorry, but are you sure you don’t want to stay here with me?” Laurent turns around to face him and Damen looks so scared and ready to lock Laurent in the bedroom at any second. 

“Come on, let’s go.” Damen grabs his hand and holds it the whole way over to Nik’s, Damen squeezes it tight not wanting to let go. They quietly open the door and sneak inside so they don’t wake anyone up and finds Nik on the couch dressed up in a nice buttoned up shirt and dress pants. 

“Nice outfit,” Damen says. 

“Yeah, this is the best you’re going to get from me. They fell asleep a few hours ago, Isander already woke up once they should be fine now.” Laurent let’s go of Damen’s hand and moves to follow Nik but Damen is not far behind them. 

“Laurent wait,” Damen pulls him back and pulls Laurent into a hug. “Just don’t do anything stupid, please. Nik will be watching.”

“I know.” Laurent pulls himself away and walks out to the truck. 

“Here,” Nik hands over a little bag of coke to Laurent as soon as he gets in the truck. Laurent shoves it in his robe pocket and sits back in his seat waiting to leave, but Nik doesn’t move. “Um, Damen doesn’t want you to see where this place is.” 

“I have to wear that stupid blindfold again?” Nik gives an apologetic look but he helps Laurent put the blindfold over his eyes. “The only reason I’m not fighting is because I want to go.”

The drive there is quiet and long. Laurent’s memory of it is driving from Adrastus’ house so they have to drive much further from Damen’s. Laurent spins the choker on his neck, feeling the crimped off chain where Damen made it impossible to take it off. This trip is one that Laurent never hoped to make again. As soon as they pull up outside of it Nik rushes around and helps him out. As soon as they get inside the blindfold is removed and Nik stops them to talk. 

“Here, this is from Damen.” Nik reaches in his pocket and pulls out Damen’s pocket knife. It’s the same style of knife that he used to try and kill Laurent. “Please, do not use it unless you need it. You can’t come back from killing someone, I don’t think you’re in the right headspace right now.” 

“I want to go get ready, come on.” Nik nods and follows Laurent down the hall. When they get to the room Nik pulls a key hidden in the light next to the door and lets them in. They walk in together and the room looks just like it did the night he came here with Pallas. Nik gets to work right away setting up the tray with champagne and glasses. Laurent however, makes himself comfortable with the room by finding the best place to hide the knife. 

“Under the mattress.” Laurent looks up at him but doesn’t move to do it so Nik reaches out a hand for it. He shows Laurent where to keep it and how to get it out fast when or if he needs to use it. “Are you sure about this? We can still go home if you don’t want to.”

“No, I need to talk to him.” Nik nods. He double checks the room is ready and safe for Laurent before heading out. He promises to be back in one hour and that he’ll be close by if he thinks anything bad is happening. Laurent takes a breath and walks over to sit down on the edge of the bed as Pallas did. He doesn’t sit as excited as Pallas did but leans back on his arms, relaxed and seemingly unbothered.

The door opens and in steps, Berenger, dressed in his expensive suit. As soon as he sees Laurent instead of Pallas he raises an eyebrow in confusion. 

“It was to my understanding that you no longer worked for Adrastus.” He reaches back and closes the door absently with a hand. “Where’s my Pallas?”

“He couldn’t be here today, so he sent me as his replacement. I heard Isander is too passive for your taste.” 

“And you’re not? You barely spoke last time we met.” Berenger walks closer and unbuttons his jacket, taking it off and tossing it on the chair that Laurent sat on last time he was there. His shoes are kicked off and he is soon sitting on the bed next to Laurent. 

“That’s because Pallas begged me not to bother you. I can handle myself, there’s a reason I’m not working for Adrastus. He has a hard time controlling me. My real boss knows how to get me to do what he wants.” Laurent reaches up and wraps a hand around his tie, holding tight enough to keep him from moving. When Berenger tries to lean in for a kiss, Laurent slips away and walks across the room. 

“Too scared to kiss me?”

“I’m not scared of anything, but I will make you wait.” Berenger lets out a breathy chuckle and watches Laurent walk away. “You want champagne? That is what you like, right?”

“Its Pallas’ favorite not mine but why not.” Berenger watches Laurent close as he pours two glasses of champagne. “So if Adrastus isn’t your boss who is? Am I still getting what I want?”

“You mean this?” Laurent reaches down and pulls out a tiny bag from his robe. “The man who supplies Adrastus is the one who owns me, he knows better than to send me here without it.”

“Good man.” Laurent hands over a glass of champagne and sits down on the bed next to him. “You know last time we met I thought you looked familiar so I looked you up.”

“Find anything interesting?”

“You’re the one who went missing with Damen.” Laurent’s stomach drops in shock, someone knows who he is. Does he care or does he just want to fuck like everyone else? “You’re a long way from home aren’t you?”

“I suppose I am.”

“I hope you know it’s none of my business to help you escape.” 

“Damen would have both of us killed before we could make it out of this building, I don’t expect that of you.” Laurent thinks to Nicaise and Isander still back at the house and the thought of escaping leaves his mind. He could never leave them here alone if he’s going to escape it has to be with them.

“So Damen’s the one supplying me then? Nice to know I’m getting my drugs from a killer. He was a big supplier for a while though right? At least I know what I’m getting is pure.” Laurent smirks and lays back to lean on his forearms and let the robe fall open. “So you call Damen your boss then?”

“I call him whatever he wants me to, is this all you do with Pallas? Just ask questions the whole time?”

“Not usually, I know everything about him. I’m the only interesting thing that happens in that boy's life but he’s pretty and knows how to fuck. You, on the other hand, could entertain me for days.” Berenger moves to lay on his side, setting his empty glass down, and runs a hand over Laurent’s side. 

“It’s your hour to waste how you choose I guess.”

“I was told by Pallas you were never allowed to fuck or smuggle anything while you were with Adrastus.” His eyes wander down Laurent’s body, tracing his thighs with his fingers. 

“Damen doesn’t like the idea of other men touching me.” Berenger raises an eyebrow and smirks. “I’m here as a favor to Pallas and very much against Damen’s wishes.”

“If he doesn’t want anyone else to touch you why would he send you to live with Adrastus?”

“We were on a break, he was going through some stuff. Not really your business to get into.” Laurent finishes his glass of champagne and climbs back out of bed to pour himself another glass, making sure to climb half over Berenger’s leg to do it. While he’s up he takes off his robe and hangs it over the edge of the chair. On his way back Berenger reaches out and pulls Laurent to sit half in his lap. “What about you? Pallas said you only come around here about once a month and then you’re off traveling again for work. What’s all that about? You must be busy if you only bother to come to get high so little.”

“I am, my work is more important to me than drugs. This is just for fun, this is my little secret.” Berenger grabs Laurent’s glass and sets it down on the bedside table before moving himself to hover over Laurent. It’s the feeling of pure terror that runs through Laurent’s body as he looks up in his eyes and sees exactly what he wants. He runs a finger over the chain on Laurent’s neck, rolling his eyes. “Did he put this on you to make sure I knew who you belong to?”

“It's just a necklace, it could be much worse.” He carefully spins it around, searching for the clasp to take it off but just finding it closed off. “Damen didn’t want you taking it off.”

“Possessive much?” Berenger moves up and turns Laurent over to lay on his stomach. Laurent’s body tightens up in pure fear. His breathing quickens in terror, his fingers grip on to the bedsheets waiting to see what Berenger is going to do. He pulls the string at the base of Laurent’s neck slowly untying all the way down his back. Berenger’s hand runs over the skin of Laurent’s lower back and up to his shoulder blade where his scar from Damen is.“Such beautiful skin, but what an ugly scar here.”

“A reminder of who I am. You know Damen wanted to kill me, but I survived.” 

“Scars are not very attractive.” Laurent focuses himself on slow and steady breathing. He doesn’t want to seem too nervous in front of him. He feels Berenger’s lips brush against the skin of his back and he gasps in shock. Berenger just chuckles and moves higher up to Laurent’s neck. One of his hands moves from Laurent’s lower back to unbutton his own shirt but only managing a few before moving down to his belt. Laurent hears the fumble of his fingers trying to undo his belt so Laurent just presses his face into the bed and waits. “It’s not as bad back there as my chest is. Enjoy the view.”

Laurent hears a crash behind him and he quickly turns around to look. Berenger fell back and knocked the tray with the glasses champagne off on to the floor, shattering them both. He falls back on the bed and Laurent quickly jumps up, grabbing the knife from the side of the bed but keeping it hidden at his side. 

“What did you do?” Berenger’s head bobs up and down trying to keep himself awake. 

“Never let a stranger pour your drink.” 

“You little shit.” Laurent flips open the knife and Berenger’s eyes fall right to it. 

“You hurt my friend. Because of what you did to him Adrastus murdered him.” Berenger’s eyes grow wide and he tries to fight so Laurent brings the knife up and aims it at his neck. “He died feeling like the one person who he actually liked seeing hated him. His death is on you.” 

“Laurent, come on. Put the knife down.”

“Why did you do it? What did Pallas ever do to deserve what you did to him? You raped him and then robbed him. He enjoyed your fucking company you asshole he would have let you fuck him.”

“Adrastus was trying to fuck me over and Pallas was smarting off. I took what was mine.” Laurent presses the tip of the knife hard into his chin in anger, hoping it might do something to scare him.

“He trusted you.”

“Why? I was just using him to fuck.”  
Laurent grits his teeth and puts a slice in the side of Berenger’s face with the fuck. He tries to thrash his head around but Laurent holds his head back with his hair to make sure he doesn’t move. “What the fuck! Stop!”

“Don’t call my scars unattractive if you aren’t prepared to have one yourself.” His eyes roll around trying to fight to stay awake but he can’t take it any longer and his eyes fall closed. Laurent crawls off of him right away and drops the knife on the floor. He lets himself pull his knees to his chest on the floor and sit to try and calm himself down. It takes a few minutes of hyperventilating and close to tears for Laurent to be able to actually move again. When he gets back up on shaky legs he gets right to work. 

Laurent uses Berenger’s tie as a rope to tie his hands together above his head to the bed frame. He leaves the rest of his clothes the way they are though partially pulled open. He pulls some of the bedsheets off the bed so things look like they went further than they did. Laurent walks back over and picks the knife up and walks over to sit next to Berenger. He’s not sure if he really wants to hurt him but this would be his chance to do it. When Nik walks in Laurent barely even stops to look at him so Nik hurries over and tries to pull him off of Berenger. 

“You’re done, Laurent, stop,” Nik says. 

“Let go, I’m not done with him.” 

“Come on, you’re not going to hurt him. You’re not Damen.” 

“I’m not going to fucking hurt him, let go!” Laurent wiggles in Nik’s arms until he finally breaks free. Laurent walks back over to Berenger and rips open the front of his shirt. With Pallas’ old lipstick, he writes the word Rapist across the front of his chest. On the tray the champagne came on he pours out some of the coke and rubs a little under his nose. Using Berenger’s phone he takes a picture and posts it online to every social media platform he can. Nik has to supervise his use of the phone the whole time just to make sure he doesn’t try anything. Lastly, he finds his wallet in his jacket pocket and steals the money out of it for the bag of coke. 

“Come on, I told Damen an hour. If we don’t get back soon he’s going to start panicking.”


End file.
